Lives in Ink: Book 1
by Dalanalira
Summary: After finding a series of interesting books in the restricted section the marauders and Lily decide to see what the future has in store for them, spoilers book 17.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: As much as we would like to take credit for everything this story contains we can't, all refered to characters are property of J.K. Rowling and her genious mind.

Enjoy :-)

**Lives in Ink **

**Chapter One**

The halls of Hogwarts were still and silent as pale summer moon light filtered through its many ancient windows. On any other night the castle would seem peaceful, even serene but not this night, for things were not peaceful outside the walls of the proud standing school.

In the outside world, a war was in full swing. Death, destruction and suspicion reigned supreme as the forces of darkness led by Voldemort were continuing their campaign to spread chaos among the wizarding population. The forces of light, led by Albus Dumbledore were left scrambling to catch up, trying to save as many lives as possible in the mad dash to find a way to bring the war to an end. But despite their best efforts, many were still dying, whole families were being wiped out and muggleborns were among the top of the list of targets. It was for this reason that Dumbledore opened the doors of Hogwarts to any student that wanted to stay, or simply had no where else to go.

Inside the peaceful settings of the castle however, one could barely notice the gloomy atmosphere. The halls were quiet, the fires in the common rooms were growing dim and all the remaining students were tucked safely in their beds, or at least so everyone thought.

* * *

The library was dark, quiet and as still as it always was. The high stacks of books cast long shadows and the quiet hum of magical knowledge filled the air. Everything was as it should be until a sudden yelp of pain rang out in the darkness.

"Ouch Sirius that was my foot!"

"Sorry Prongs but its hard to walk under here! We're not exactly first-years anymore you know."

"I know but shhhh! Keep your voice down we don't want to get caught,"

"Caught by who?" Suddenly two boys materialized out of thin air. The taller of the two straightened out and stretched his cramped back muscles looking slightly annoyed.

"Why are we even wondering around under the cloak anyway?" After stretching properly, Sirius turned and glared at his slightly shorter friend. "In case you haven't noticed its summer holidays and the library is deserted. The only person who comes here now is Evans and she's in her dormitory probably sound asleep."

James ran a hand through his short, messy black hair and glared. "Lily Evans is the last of our worries, if that new crazy librarian catches us we're in big trouble. Besides we don't know if Evans is sleep, she might not be, we don't know because **someone** forgot to grab the map before we left"

"Oh come on Madame Pince isn't so bad! And if I recall correctly **I** didn't forget the map! I said I was going to grab the **cloak** and **you** were supposed to grab the map!"

"Actually I was supposed to grab the cloak and you the map but it doesn't matter now, let's just find this book and get out of here, I really don't want to get caught before we can get this prank organized" The boys moved through the stacks of books until they reached the roped off section that marked the restricted section. They jumped the rope and started to scan the rows and rows of dusty volumes.

"Fine by me, what's the title again?…something potions?"

James snorted. "Brilliant deduction Padfoot… it is a potions book after all. I thought you were going to ask Moony for the title before we came here?"

"No you were going to ask Moony,"

"Great so now we're looking for a book that we don't even know the name for…I think it was something like Most Poisonous Potions… or maybe Most Preposterous Potions.." James said as he pulled out a volume covered in cobwebs and blew the dust off.

Sirius rolled his eyes and climbed up a ladder to look at some books higher up in the shelves. "Now who's being brilliant, we're looking for the polyjuice potion which isn't poisonous."

"It could be if you added bits of Slytherin to it,"

"Ewww...Good point, Mr. Padfoot wishes to make clear his displeasure at having to consume anything that has come from a Slytherin's person." Sirius swung the ladder further along the wall and climbed to the top to look at the most distant volumes.

James chuckled and placed yet another volume back on the shelves "Mr. Prongs concurs with Mr. Padfoot and suggests that we make Mr. Wormtail the guinea pig."

"Agreed!" Sirius was about to come down the ladder when something colorful caught his eye. Turning back to the shelves he pulled out a book with a bright red cover. Examining it closer, he spotted a picture of a train that looked like the Hogwarts express along with the drawn image of a young dark haired boy baring a lightning blot shaped scar.

"Hey Prongs! Look at this,"

"What is it? And if you tell me you found an old copy of witch weekly in the folds I'll kick this ladder out from under you." James said dryly as he walked over and stood under the ladder.

"No something more interesting then that, check it out." He passed the book down and rested more comfortably against the rungs. "_Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone_, some relative of yours?"

"Nope, don't know of anyone in the family with the name Harry," he turned the book over in his hands "looks like some kind of muggle book; wonder what it's doing in the restricted section…"

"No clue" Sirius looked back where he found the book and saw more of them in various colours and thicknesses. "but it looks like there's a whole series of them, seven books in all…" James opened the book and looked at the copy right date in mild interest until the date registered in his mind. His eyes widened.

"Padfoot, what year is it?" Sirius turned to look at him and snorted before turning back to the other books.

"Don't be Daft, you know its 1977, I think all the dust is getting you your head."

"Then maybe you can explain why I'm holding a book that isn't supposed to exist yet."

"Wha?" James passed Sirius the book for him to inspect. " 1997? But that's impossible…" his words trailed off as a tantalizing thought occurred to him. "Prongs, what if this book is from the future... Hell this Harry Potter could be your son! The time is right!" His words lit a fire of excitement in the bellies of both boys.

"And that would explain why they're in the restricted section! Padfoot lets grab them, we'll take them back to the common room and find out what our futures have in store for us." But Sirius was already putting the rest of the books in his back pack. They started heading out of the library when Sirius slowed down.

"Bugger, I thought we came here looking for a book to help us prank Snape? Shouldn't we grab it?"

"Forget Snivellus, this looks more interesting, besides I got the book anyway, I found it when you found the other books."

"Brilliant! Then let's get out of here, I don't think I want to be caught by Madam Pince, She's still a little cross with me about the hot chocolate incident." James shook his head and threw the cloak back over them both and with that they made the long silent trek back to the Gryffindor common room.

* * *

The boys quickly dashed into the common room after hearing several complaints from the Fat Lady about disturbing her slumber (It's bad enough I have to keep working during my off season but to be awoken at all hours of the night! When are you boys going to learn some responsibility?!).

"Where is everyone?" Sirius wondered aloud. James shrugged, walking further into the room intent on finding a good place to start reading. He stopped immediately when a voice spoke up from the darkened room.

"Most sensible people are in bed, it is after 1am, what the hell took you so long?…" there was a rush of sound as the dying fire was rekindled and light flooded the room, temporarily blinding the two boys. When they're sight returned it was to find an amused looking young man with sandy colored hair sitting on a comfy couch near the fire place. His amber colored eyes twinkling with mirth at the sight of the two trying to adjust to the light.

"Aww Moony, you didn't have to wait up for us," Sirius said when he could finally see right, he moved over to the chair across from him and made himself comfortable as James flopped down on the other end of the couch. Remus quirked an eyebrow.

"Someone had to make sure you didn't run into that new librarian or Filch," he said dryly, gesturing to the open Marauder's Map resting on a table in front of him. "There were a few times when I was sure you were going to get caught. Peter was so shaken by one close call that he decided to go to bed rather then watch anymore and I was left to watch your butts and make sure nothing went wrong." He stated matter of factly.

"Aww Moony you shouldn't have," James said smirking.

"You're right and I wouldn't of had to if you two had remembered to grab the map!" Remus said slightly irritated," what were you two thinking going out without it! You twits might as well have walked out of here without the cloak too!"

"Not my fault, James was supposed to grab the map," Sirius said as he crossed his arms behind his head.

"No I wasn't, you were supposed to grab the map!"

"No! I was—"

"Anyways!" Remus called out before an argument could start that would wake what was left of the whole house "did you get what you needed,"

"We did indeed" Sirius said pulling the battered book out of his book bag and handing it to Remus who started flipping through the pages.

"But wait there's more, we also found something better, show him Sirius!" James excitedly started bouncing up and down on the spot. Remus didn't even look up from the book in his lap.

"Must be good if it's got Prongs this excited," Commented Remus dryly, still scanning the potion ingredients that they would need.

"What's that supposed to mean?" James said with a raised eyebrow. Remus glanced up at him and sighed.

"It means that you get excited over some weird things, remember when we started non-verbal spells in Transfiguration? You were giddy for a week, or when professor Twellend brought that Hinkypunk into class? You laughed for a straight ten minutes every time the thing made that weird squelching sound against its tank…" Sirius was reaching into his bag and pulled out the first of the books he found earlier.

"Non-verbal spells are pretty interesting and very practical, they give the element of surprise to your opponent when dueling, and come on! The Hinkypunk was hilarious! I swear it was making sounds on purpose every time old Twellend tried to explain the damn thing." James stated with a grin. "Besides, you guys were just as interested in the non verbal spells as I was, and good thing too, considering the reason our folks made us stay here this summer."

"Yeah, you got a point there, if we hadn't learned them, that attack at King's cross could have turned out worse then it did. But anyway we're getting off topic! Here Remus take a look!" Sirius said as he shoved the book into his friend's hands. Remus looked at the two of them weird before turning the book over in his hands and reading the title pensively.

"_Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone_… any relation to you, James?"

"We think there is, check the copy write date inside the cover" James scooted closer and practically forced the book open in his excitement. Remus scanned the page until his eye fell on the date where his eye widened.

"1997? But that twenty years from now! How is that even possible?!" Remus said looking at the book more closely.

"We're not sure; we found them when we were looking through the restricted section in one of the old corners. We think this Harry Potter bloke is James' son," Sirius jumped in before James could comment "Think about it Remus, the date would be about right! We could have the answer to what the future has in store for us right here in our hands!"

"And look there's more!" James grabbed the bag Sirius was holding and dumped its contents onto the floor for Remus to see. The six other books fell out in a pile of colorful covers and Remus bent and picked some of them up looking at each of them.

"Judging by these books" He said "it looks like this kid of yours, if that who this is about… has had some harrowing adventures Prongs,"

"I agree now come on! What are we waiting for?! Let's find out about the future," Sirius grabbed the first book out of Remus' hands and flopped down with intentions to read.

"Wait! Hold on Padfoot, it's nearly two in the morning now why don't we wait till we wake up? We'll feel more refreshed and we'll be able to read it all day tomorrow without the risk of being over heard."

"But Moony I want to read it now,"

"But we should at least wait for Peter, I'm sure he'll want to know his future as well," James said wisely, " After all he's bound to be in there too, you guys are my best mates, so any kid of mine is bound to now loads about all of you. It's only fair we're all there to find out how well we do in the future."

"Prongs is right Padfoot we should wait for Wormtail, besides I don't know about you but I'm exhausted, all those close calls tonight wore on my nerves…"

"Oh alright we'll wait until morning," Sirius said dejectedly as he closed the book and, slipping it back in his back pack, headed for the dormitory stairs. James and Remus followed behind him slowly.

"I never thought I'd have to ask Sirius to put down a book that wasn't for a prank…" Remus said as he settled himself into his comfy four poster.

"Well, you know what they say Moony, there's a first time for everything,"

With that, the three boys settled into sleep, each wondering what adventures and wonders would be revealed to them as they opened the books to their futures.

* * *

"Oi Potter! Get your lazy butt out of bed!" A feminine voice bellowed, accompanied by a firm connection of a bundle of socks to James head. He shot bolt upright in shock and started looking around the room in a confused sort of way, looking around the room for the source of the offending socks. He then noticed that the door to the hall was open and there, framed in light, was the form of a slender woman with fiery red hair who was leaning against the door frame. "Finally! Get up! We have patrols to do."

"Patrols? What are you on about Evans? What patrols?" mumbled James, his voice still rich with sleep as he wiped his eyes then fumbled on the night stand for his glasses. He pressed them on his face and glanced at the pretty but annoyed face of Lily Evans who sighed in exasperation.

"Oh Merlin, please don't tell me you've already forgotten about the conversation we had with Dumbledore yesterday," Lily said with an exasperated glare. "I swear Potter, if this is how thick headed you're going to be all year I have no idea how we're going to get anything done!"

"Conversation… And what conversation was that again?" He said as he got up and started searching around for his robes. Lily cleared her throat and turned her back as James moved around in only his boxers before continuing her rage against his obvious disregard for responsibility.

"For the love of Merlin Potter" She said exasperated. "You're Head Boy for Merlin sake! WE, as in you and I, have to patrol the halls and make sure everything is under control!"

"Oh right that conversation," He said as he pulled his robes on and ran his hand through his hair.

"What's going on?" A sleepy voice asked from the darkness of one of the now fluttering bed curtains.

"Go back to sleep Black this is between Potter and I,"

"Evans?! What the hell are you doing in here! Hold on...Is it morning?" he asked as he finally managed to get the sheets pulled back.

She sighed and rolled her eyes. "No Black, it's the middle of the night, Honestly! why else would I be in here?" Lily said sarcastically. "Now come on Potter move!" but as James grumbled about pushy women and moved towards the door He was forced to come to a complete stop to avoid Sirius' suddenly flying body.

"It's morning!" Sirius sprung out of bed and jumped right onto Moony's without even touching the ground.

"The hell? Padfoot!"

"It's morning Moony, time to read the books!" Sirius said as he jumped on the mattress then turned and jumped on Peter's bed "get up Wormtail come on! time to read the books!" The short portly boy in the bed squeaked as he rolled and landed hard on the stone floor as he attempted to avoid Sirius jumping on him again. He sat up groggily, rubbing his head and scowled at the hyperactive teen jumping on his bed.

"The books? Sirius, what the hell are you talking about, James, Remus what's wrong with him? And why is Evans in our dorm room?" he said as he grabbed his curtains and hid behind them.

"I'm certainly not here to spy on you Pettigrew trust me, I have enough nightmares as it is." Lily said with a sneer that would have made most Slytherins proud.

"The books, the books," Sirius then turned again but instead of successfully landing on James he missed and landed where James had been previously having just moved closer to the door to leave for rounds.

Peter grumbled. " But what is Sirius going on about, What books! Why the hell is he dragging me out of bed this early!"

"Yeah Black, have you been inhaling too many of the fumes in potions class again?" Lily said as she straightened up and raised an inquisitive eyebrow.

"Nope, I just really want to start reading that book!" Sirius said as he dove for his backpack to retrieve the book from where they had kept it the previous night.

"Did…did you just say you want to read a book? Sirius Black is bouncing off the walls to read a book?" Lily said looking flabbergasted.

"Oh yeah the books, everyone up we got reading to do!" Remus said as he emerged from the bath room where he had slipped off to after being so rudely awoken.

"Not you too Remus, I thought you were the only sensible one here."

"Well you know me lily; I'm always up for a good book." Remus said with a slight smile.

"What books?" asked a confused Peter "you woke us all up to read? Are you sure you're not smelling the fumes in potions class Sirius?"

"Trust me Wormtail he's not, but you wouldn't know about the books, you were already in bed last night. James and Sirius found a bunch of future books in the library last night."

"And just what were you two doing in the library last night?" asked a further annoyed Lily rounding on the two boys. Sirius and James turned to her with two completely identical looks of innocence.

"Clearly we were looking for a bologna sandwich, what do you think we were doing in the library last night Evans?"

"With you, one never knows Potter, but I would like to see these books that's got you so excited,"

"I've got the first one here," said Sirius handing it over to Lily.

"Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone," she read aloud "Any relation…"

"We think he's James' son," Lily's eyes widened as she turned to James with her mouth wide open.

"What poor woman would be out of her mind enough to spawn with you Potter?"

"Hey! I resent that," James said looking hurt.

"Well soon we'll find out, come on everyone let's go read about our future!" Sirius grabbed James' arm and started to drag him past lily and out the door.

"Hold it a minute Potter, you and I still have rounds to do. When that's done then we can read this book Black is so obsessed with,"

"We?"

"Yes we, I want to find out who the poor soul was that married you so I can warn them ahead of time. I'll meet you in the common room and be quick we're already 30 minutes late for our rounds," He sighed and rolled his eyes.

* * *

After thoroughly checking over what seemed to James as every centimeter of the castle and many arguments later, Lily and James both made it back to the common room in one piece.

"About time you got back," yelled an annoyed looking Sirius "Moony took the book away from me for some unknown reason and refused to give it back,"

"I took the book because you kept trying to read it, we all agreed to read it together Sirius which means no peaking,"

"I wasn't peaking I was familiarizing myself with the words,"

"That means you were peaking,"

"Whoa calm down, I'm sorry we took so long. Would have been here sooner but Evans insisted that we check every broom closet,"

"Well excuse me for being thorough Potter but Professor Dumbledore asked us to do a job and I'm not about to not give it my complete attention. If you don't like it so much you can go back to Professor Dumbledore and ask him to pick someone else. In fact please do it would save me a lot of trouble this year,"

"No way are you getting off that easily Evans, I'm sticking with this no matter what you do or say I just don't see the need to check the Astronomy Tower four times,"

"Four times? Isn't that a bit much?"

"Shut up Black, nobody asked for your opinion!" snarled an angry Lily "besides everyone knows how often people sneak up there and I for one would like to put a stop to it,"

"Well good luck with that Evans because you're fighting a losing battle,"

"We'll just see about that Potter!"

"When you two are finished, some of us have been waiting patiently for a while to start this book and would like to get a move on,"

"Peter's right, now I figured we'd take turns reading aloud and since I'm holding the book that I'd start, unless someone else really wants to read," Remus looked around at everyone in the room. Lily and James had finally taken a seat far away from one another and looked ready for this to begin. When no one spoke up Remus opened the book to start.

**THE BOY WHO LIVED**

"The Boy Who what?"

"The Boy Who Lived Black, were you not listening?"

"No I was listening but I thought this book was about this Harry Potter bloke, you know James' potential future son? What's all this 'Boy Who Lived' nonsense?"

"Maybe it's a nickname,"

"I don't think so Wormtail, I'd have to be inhaling a lot of potions fumes to nickname my kid something like that,"

"Are you sure he isn't already?"

"Yes Evans we're sure, I know my best mate and he's as likely to be sniffing the fumes as I am,"

"That's not that unlikely Black,"

"Besides!" Sirius continued as if he hadn't been interrupted "No way would I ever let James get away with calling his kid that, even if it was a nickname,"

**Mr. and Mrs. Dursley,**

"Dursley…where have I heard that name before?" Lily wondered out loud, the others just shrugged and nodded for Remus to keep reading.

**of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much. **

"Why would you want to be normal?" Sirius asked the others who once again just shrugged.

**They were the last people you'd expect to be involved in anything strange or mysterious, because they just didn't hold with such nonsense.**

"Urg, they sound unpleasant, kind of like my sister actually" Lily said with a frown.

**Mr. Dursley was the director of a firm called Grunnings, which made drills. **

"What are drills?" Peter asked turning to Lily who was the only muggleborn of the group.

"They are these tools that muggles use when building something, they make holes in solid objects"

"Ah"

**He was a big, beefy man with hardly any neck, although he did have a very large mustache.**

"That sounds attractive," muttered James

**Mrs. Dursley was thin and blonde and had nearly twice the usual amount of neck, which came in very useful as she spent so much of her time craning over garden fences, spying on the neighbors. **

"That sounds even better," snickered Sirius

**The Dursleys had a small son called Dudley and in their opinion there was no finer boy anywhere.**

"Why do I doubt that?" muttered Sirius

"Honestly Black are you going to mutter something after every sentence?"

"Actually Evans I wasn't going to but since I now know how much it annoys you I think I will," Sirius added with a mischievous smirk.

"Actually Sirius has a point, he sounds like a brat to me." Peter said sagely.

**The Dursleys had everything they wanted, but they also had a secret, and their greatest fear was that somebody would discover it. They didn't think they could bear it if anyone found out about the Potters. **

"I would be the same if it was me..." Lily sighed.

"What's wrong with the Potters? We're a very nice_ normal _wizarding family once you get to know us," James said defensively

"Damn straight! Nicer people you couldn't find anywhere!" Sirius nodded.

"Oh okay so it's just James that's the prat then"

"Oi! I'm not a prat!"

**Mrs. Potter was Mrs. Dursley's sister, but they hadn't met for several years; in fact, Mrs. Dursley pretended she didn't have a sister, because her sister and her good-for-nothing husband were as unDursleyish as it was possible to be. **

"Oh no," Lily whispered so that no one could hear her "why do I have a very bad feeling about this,"

"Is undursleyish even a word?" Peter asked.

"I don't think so…."

**  
The Dursleys shuddered to think what the neighbors would say if the Potters arrived in the street. The Dursleys knew that the Potters had a small son, too, but they had never even seen him. This boy was another good reason for keeping the Potters away; they didn't want Dudley mixing with a child like that.**

"Well I wouldn't want my son mixing with a child like yours either,"

"Very funny Evans, I'll have you know there's nothing wrong with my son!" James said defiantly.

"How do you know? You haven't even met him yet!"

"Then count it as coming to his defense for when I do!"

**When Mr. and Mrs. Dursley woke up on the dull, gray Tuesday our story starts, there was nothing about the cloudy sky outside to suggest that strange and mysterious things would soon be happening all over the country. **

"Define mysterious," commented Remus dryly

**Mr. Dursley hummed as he picked out his most boring tie for work, and Mrs. Dursley gossiped away happily as she wrestled a screaming Dudley into his high chair.**

"Brat!" everyone all said at once.

**None of them noticed a large, tawny owl flutter past the window. **

"Probably off to deliver some morning post, nothing unusual about that," smiled Sirius

"It is if you're a muggle," Lily said. "Most muggles don't see owls very often."

"Weird..." Sirius said turning his attention back to the book

**At half past eight, Mr. Dursley picked up his briefcase, pecked Mrs. Dursley on the cheek, and tried to kiss Dudley good-bye but missed, because Dudley was now having a tantrum and throwing his cereal at the walls.**

"Brat," they all said again

**"Little tyke," chortled Mr. Dursley as he left the house. **

"I got a few other names for your _son_," James commented dryly making sure to put extra emphasis on son.

**He got into his car and backed out of number four's drive.**

"Before you ask," Lily started quickly shutting up Sirius before he spoke "a car is a contraption muggles use to get around, sort of how wizards use brooms,"

"Actually _Evans_, I know what a car is, I was just going to comment on how he got into his car if he's so_ beefy_,"

"Well excuse me for trying to be nice _Black_, remind me to never do it again!"

**It was on the corner of the street that he noticed the first sign of something peculiar -- a cat reading a map. **

"Must be an Animagus," muttered Remus

"But what would an Animagus be doing in a muggle neighbourhood, let alone this muggle neighbourhood?"

"I don't know Evans but why don't you tell us since you seem to know everything,"

"Shut up Black,"

**For a second, Mr. Dursley didn't realize what he had seen -- then he jerked his head around to look again. There was a tabby cat standing on the corner of Privet Drive, but there wasn't a map in sight. **

"Well of course not, you really think an Animagus is going to be that obvious as to let you get a second look?" James said chuckling

"Well you never know what's going through the mind of an Animagus when in animal form; I've heard the animal senses can mess with peoples perceptions of rules if they're not careful." Lily said sagely. James shared a meaningful grin with Sirius and Peter and Remus quickly changed the subject.

"It might not be an Animagus though, could have been a trick of the light"

"Whatever you say Remus"

**What could he have been thinking of? **

"You mean he's actually capable of thought?" Sirius smirked,

"Not everyone is as dim as you Sirius."

"Oi!"

Peter laughed

**It must have been a trick of the light. Mr. Dursley blinked and stared at the cat. It stared back. As Mr. Dursley drove around the corner and up the road, he watched the cat in his mirror. It was now reading the sign that said Privet Drive -- no, looking at the sign; cats couldn't read maps or signs. **

"Definitely an Animagus,"

"But how can you be sure?"

"Do you know of any cats in your neighbourhood that sit and read maps or street signs Evans?"

"Well no..."

"I rest my case," James smirked triumphantly. Lily scowled and looked like she was going to retort but decided against it and nodded for Remus to keep reading.

**Mr. Dursley gave himself a little shake and put the cat out of his mind. As he drove toward town he thought of nothing except a large order of drills he was hoping to get that day. **

"He's probably not capable of thinking about anything else," smirked Sirius

"And if he tried his brain would probably explode," laughed James

"Now really, what do you two have against muggles?"

"We've got nothing against muggles, we've just go something about this muggle"

"And why do you say that Black?"

Sirius just shrugged before James continued "there's just something about him, does anyone else see it?"

"He seems a little odd, I mean what kind of person doesn't get interested in mysterious things?" mumbled Peter quietly feeling somewhat intimidated by a slightly annoyed Lily sitting next to him.

"I agree with you Prongs, there's just something about him that doesn't seem right," Remus said with a slight nod.

"Well Evans, what are your thoughts on this?"

"He reminds me a lot of my sister's boyfriend and I know for a fact that I don't trust him as far as I can throw him,"

"Do you finally see where we're coming from then?" James let put a small triumphant smirk that annoyed Lily further.

"Don't go having your head enlarge anymore than it is, just because I see your point doesn't mean I approve of your tactics,"

"Wait I'm confused are we still talking about this Dursley bloke or has the conversation switched to someone else?"

"Who do you think they're talking about Padfoot?" whispered Remus dryly

"Well my tactics seem to be working just fine at getting my point across," James snapped.

"Your_ tactics_ are childish immature pranks and its about time you grew up and learned some responsibility," snarled Lily slightly raising her voice.

"Uh Lily, James?" Peter started while Remus and Sirius were both whispering no and shaking their heads at him "can we continue on with the book please?" Peter was slightly quivering when he finished speaking and waiting for one of them to lash out at him for interrupting their argument.

"Fine," snapped Lily "I think I made my point,"

James snorted but didn't respond even when Lily glared at him.

**But on the edge of town, drills were driven out of his mind by something else. As he sat in the usual morning traffic jam, he couldn't help noticing that there seemed to be a lot of strangely dressed people about. People in cloaks.**

"What's wrong with cloaks?" Peter asked defensively

"Nothing Pete, just that muggles don't wear them." Remus said patiently.

"Ah"

**Mr. Dursley couldn't bear people who dressed in funny clothes -- the getups you saw on young people! **

"Not all of us want to wear _boring_ ties," joked Sirius

**He supposed this was some stupid new fashion.**

"Only if you count the past few hundred years as new." James said

**He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel and his eyes fell on a huddle of these weirdos standing quite close by. They were whispering excitedly together. Mr. Dursley was enraged to see that a couple of them weren't young at all; why, that man had to be older than he was, and wearing an emerald-green cloak! **

"A wizard no doubt," smiled Remus "But the Statue of Secrecy says you're supposed to wear muggle clothes in muggle areas,"

"Looks like the lot of them have taken the Statue of Secrecy and thrown it out the window," laughed Sirius

"But why would they do that?" asked Lily "The Statue of Secrecy was put in place for our safety, why are people jeopardizing that?" the others just shrugged.

"Something Big must have happened…" Sirius said rubbing his hands together excitedly.

**The nerve of him! But then it struck Mr. Dursley that this was probably some silly stunt -- these people were obviously collecting for something... yes, that would be it. **

"Yes, that a good muggle, just explain everything away and go about your business," James said as if her were talking to a child, Lily began to retort but Remus' reading cut her off.

**The traffic moved on and a few minutes later, Mr. Dursley arrived in the Grunnings parking lot, his mind back on drills. **

"This Dursley sounds very boring, him and Binns should get together,"

"Except that he's a muggle Padfoot and seeing a ghost would probably freak him out," pointed out Remus

"Yeah you're right, let's show him," Sirius smiled mischievously

**Mr. Dursley always sat with his back to the window in his office on the ninth floor. If he hadn't, he might have found it harder to concentrate on drills that morning. He didn't see the owls swooping past in broad daylight, though people down in the street did; they pointed and gazed open- mouthed as owl after owl sped overhead.**

"Geesh they act like they've never seen an owl before," Sirius rolled his eyes.

"Of course they've never seen owls before, at least not ones that behave like that, they're muggles Black!"

"Oh right…"

**Most of them had never seen an owl even at nighttime.**

"See what I mean," She said triumphantly.

**Mr. Dursley, however, had a perfectly normal, owl-free morning. He yelled at five different people. He made several important telephone calls and shouted a bit more.**

"Sounds like an excellent morning," muttered Sirius sarcastically

"Real pleasant guy this Dursley isn't he?" James said dryly.

**He was in a very good mood until lunchtime, when he thought he'd stretch his legs and walk across the road to buy himself a bun from the bakery. **

"I'm hungry," complained Peter "when are we going to eat?"

"Later Wormtail, after we read a bit more," James shushed him with a wave of his hand

"After this chapter we'll go get some breakfast ok Wormtail?" Remus asked kindly while Peter just nodded his affirmation.

**He'd forgotten all about the people in cloaks until he passed a group of them next to the baker's. He eyed them angrily as he passed. He didn't know why, but they made him uneasy. This bunch were whispering excitedly, too, and he couldn't see a single collecting tin. It was on his way back past them, clutching a large doughnut**

"Just what the_ beefy_ man needs," James muttered sarcastically

**in a bag, that he caught a few words of what they were saying. **

"What were the wizards saying?"

"Shut up Padfoot and I'll tell you!" Remus yelled exasperated

"You're so mean to me Moony…" Sirius pouted

**"The Potters, that's right, that's what I heard yes, their son, Harry" **

"What about me and my son?" James asked sounding excited while everyone else shushed him

**Mr. Dursley stopped dead. Fear flooded him. He looked back at the whisperers as if he wanted to say something to them, but thought better of it. **

**He dashed back across the road, hurried up to his office, snapped at his secretary**

"What did your secretary ever do to you? Poor woman's going to need therapy after working with you,"

"Probably not as much therapy as we're going to need dealing with you Black,"

"Ouch Evans that was harsh,"

**not to disturb him, seized his telephone, and had almost finished dialing his home number when he changed his mind. He put the receiver back down and stroked his mustache, thinking... no, he was being stupid. Potter wasn't such an unusual name.**

"The only Potter I know is James," mumbled Peter

"I'm sure in the wizarding world there aren't any outside his family but in the muggle world there's more than one family of Potters,"

**He was sure there were lots of people called Potter who had a son called Harry. Come to think of it, he wasn't even sure his nephew was called Harry. He'd never even seen the boy.**

"Good, I don't want you anywhere near my son,"

**It might have been Harvey. Or Harold. **

"Same name you git," laughed Sirius

**There was no point in worrying Mrs. Dursley; she always got so upset at any mention of her sister. He didn't blame her -- if he'd had a sister like that... **

"Like what exactly?" snapped Lily

**but all the same, those people in cloaks... **

**He found it a lot harder to concentrate on drills that afternoon and when he left the building at five o'clock, he was still so worried that he walked straight into someone just outside the door.**

They all laughed at that.

**"Sorry," he grunted, as the tiny old man stumbled and almost fell. It was a few seconds before Mr. Dursley realized that the man was wearing a violet cloak. He didn't seem at all upset at being almost knocked to the ground. On the contrary, his face split into a wide smile and he said in a squeaky voice that made passersby stare,**

"Think that could be Flitwick?" asked Remus, the others just shrugged.

**"Don't be sorry, my dear sir, for nothing could upset me today! Rejoice, for You-Know-Who has gone at last! Even Muggles like yourself should be celebrating, this happy, happy day!"**

"Who cares who he is; he just gave us the greatest news ever! You-Know-Who is dead!" yelled Sirius jumping up and cheering, everyone followed his example except Lily.

"What's the matter Evans? Not happy about You-Know-Who's death?"

"Of course I'm happy about Voldemort's death Black, I'm just thinking about the time period is all!" she snapped back.

"Time period?"

"Yes Potter the time period, this book wasn't punished until the late 90's if I remember correctly that's 20 years from now. What kind of destruction could and would have been done in that time period?"

Everyone was silent for a few moments until Remus spoke up breaking that silence "Just because this book was published in the late 90's doesn't mean that it took that long for these events to happen. I have a feeling that this point in time if closer to our time period than the publishing date,"

"What makes you say that Moony?"

"Just a feeling Padfoot, can't really explain it," Remus shrugged his shoulders and continued reading.

**And the old man hugged Mr. Dursley around the middle and walked off.**

**Mr. Dursley stood rooted to the spot. He had been hugged by a complete stranger.**

"How horrible, then again who would want to hug you?" questioned Sirius

**He also thought he had been called a Muggle, whatever that was. **

"It means you're _abnormal_,"

"Did you just call my family abnormal Black?"

"Not your family Evans just this Dursley bloke,"

**He was rattled. He hurried to his car and set off for home, hoping he was imagining things, which he had never hoped before, because he didn't approve of imagination.**

"What's wrong with imagining things? I do it all the time,"

"That's not something to brag about Padfoot,"

"Shut up Moony,"

**As he pulled into the driveway of number four, the first thing he saw -- and it didn't improve his mood -- was the tabby cat he'd spotted that morning. It was now sitting on his garden wall. He was sure it was the same one; it had the same markings around its eyes.**

"Wait a minute doesn't McGonagall have markings around her eyes when she's in her Animagus form?"

"Yes she does Remus, but think about it logically, why would McGonagall be sitting outside this Dursley bloke's house?"

"No idea Lily,"

**"Shoo!" said Mr. Dursley loudly. The cat didn't move. It just gave him a stern look.**

"Definitely McGonagall, I'd know her 'stern look' anywhere even without actually seeing it," muttered Sirius as he shivered.

**Was this normal cat behavior?**

"Nope just normal McGonagall behavior..."

**Mr. Dursley wondered. Trying to pull himself together, he let himself into the house. He was still determined not to mention anything to his wife.**

"Because you wouldn't want your wife to think you'd gone mad or anything," James laughed.

"Well odds are if her sister is a witch she'd know he hadn't gone mad. Mine knows about a lot of the stuff that wizards do" Lily reasoned.

"Touché." James said. "Then I guess it's just safe to call this guy a coward then, he's afraid of the consequences of upsetting his wife.'

"Well you know what they say, hell hath no fury..."

**Mrs. Dursley had had a nice, normal day. She told him over dinner all about Mrs. Next Door's problems with her daughter and how Dudley had learned a new word ("Won't!"). **

"Brat," they all said

**Mr. Dursley tried to act normally.**

"And I'll bet failed miserably" James said and the others nodded.

**When Dudley had been put to bed, he went into the living room in time to catch the last report on the evening news:**

**"And finally, bird-watchers everywhere have reported that the nation's owls have been behaving very unusually today. **

"That's what you think," smirked James

**Although owls normally hunt at night and are hardly ever seen in daylight, there have been hundreds of sightings of these birds flying in every direction since sunrise. Experts are unable to explain why the owls have suddenly changed their sleeping pattern." The newscaster allowed himself a grin.**

"He's got to be a wizard or something; why else would he grin like that?"

"Not necessarily Padfoot, he could just have a magical relative,"

"I guess Moony, but no doubt about it he's related to the wizarding world somehow,"

**"Most mysterious. And now, over to Jim McGuffin with the weather. Going**

**to be any more showers of owls tonight, Jim?"**

**"Well, Ted," said the weatherman, "I don't know about that, but it's not only the owls that have been acting oddly today. Viewers as far apart as Kent, Yorkshire, and Dundee have been phoning in to tell me that instead of the rain I promised yesterday, they've had a downpour of shooting stars! **

"Wizards," they all mumbled

"Well considering Voldemort is powerful now and this is in the future, it sounds like people haven't had much to celebrate till then…" Remus said the others agreed

"And let face it Wizards party hard when things are going good" Sirius said doing a little dance on the spot that had the other looking at him in fear

"Padfoot please never do that again…" Peter said leaving Sirius to pout.

**Perhaps people have been celebrating Bonfire Night early -- it's not until next week, folks! But I can promise a wet night tonight."**

**Mr. Dursley sat frozen in his armchair. Shooting stars all over Britain? Owls flying by daylight? Mysterious people in cloaks all over the place? And a whisper, a whisper about the Potters...**

"Well we're very popular people,"

"Deflate that ego Potter before I do it for you!"

**Mrs. Dursley came into the living room carrying two cups of tea. It was no good. **

"That's not nice to say about you wife's cooking" Peter said

"Not what they meant Pete."

**He'd have to say something to her. He cleared his throat nervously. "Er -- Petunia,**

"Oh no," mouthed Lily but thankfully for her no one saw

**dear -- you haven't heard from your sister lately, have you?" **

**As he had expected, Mrs. Dursley looked shocked and angry. After all, they normally pretended she didn't have a sister.**

**"No," she said sharply. "Why?"**

"I want to see her, I've taken a fancy to her," Sirius said huskily while the other boys laughed

"Sirius!" screeched Lily

Sirius at first looked shocked at Lily using his first name but quickly looked embarrassed and mumbled a quick apology

**"Funny stuff on the news," Mr. Dursley mumbled. "Owls... shooting stars... and there were a lot of funny-looking people in town today..."**

**"So?" snapped Mrs. Dursley.**

"So clearly it's all your sisters doing and he wants you…"

"I'm warning you Black!"

"What? I wasn't doing anything honest," Lily just glared at him

**"Well, I just thought... maybe... it was something to do with... you**

**know... her crowd."**

"Oh sure blame the wizards, something strange happens in a muggle neighbourhood and it must be those nasty wizards again,"

"That's because it usually is a wizards fault when something strange happens in a muggle neighbourhood Padfoot,"

"Damn it Moony why must you always be right,"

**Mrs. Dursley sipped her tea through pursed lips. Mr. Dursley wondered whether he dared tell her he'd heard the name "Potter." He decided he didn't dare. **

"Wuss!" James said only to quail under Lily's glare.

**Instead he said, as casually as he could, "Their son -- he'd be about Dudley's age now, wouldn't he?"**

"Who names their kid Dudley?"

"Who names their kid Peter?"

"Shut up, it's better than Sirius,"

"Is not,"

"Is too,"

"Is not,"

"When you two are finished!"

"Sorry Evans," they both mumbled looking embarrassed

**"I suppose so," said Mrs. Dursley stiffly.**

**"What's his name again? Howard, isn't it?"**

**"Harry. Nasty, common name, if you ask me."**

"I happen to like my son's name,"

"It's better than Dudley at least," snickered Sirius

**"Oh, yes," said Mr. Dursley, his heart sinking horribly. "Yes, I quite**

**agree."**

"Prat," they all said

**He didn't say another word on the subject as they went upstairs to bed. **

"Kind of early for bed isn't it?"

"Not everyone likes to stay up until all hours of the night Padfoot,"

"Nope, that's just you Moony," Sirius said with a wink.

**While Mrs. Dursley was in the bathroom, Mr. Dursley crept to the bedroom window and peered down into the front garden. The cat was still there. **

"Why is McGonagall stalking these muggles?" asked James, the others just shrugged

"We still don't know if it's McGonagall…" Lily said crossing her arms

"What ever you say Evans" Sirius said rolling his eyes "if you weren't such a good two shoes you'd know her glare anywhere too." Lily glared.

**It was staring down Privet Drive as though it were waiting for something.**

"Maybe she is waiting for something or someone,"

"But what Moony?"

"No idea Prongs,"

**Was he imagining things? Could all this have anything to do with the Potters? **

"Potter probably did something stupid and got himself blown up,"

"Ouch Evans that's harsh, besides…" James ran his hand through his hair and put on his most charming grin "You know you'd miss me"

"Keep telling yourself that Potter" Lily said rolling her eyes.

**If it did... if it got out that they were related to a pair of -- well, he didn't think he could bear it.**

"Trust me you're not the only one trying to keep that quiet, I don't want people to know my family's related to yours either,"

**The Dursleys got into bed. Mrs. Dursley fell asleep quickly but Mr. Dursley lay awake, turning it all over in his mind. His last, comforting thought before he fell asleep was that even if the Potters were involved, there was no reason for them to come near him and Mrs. Dursley. The Potters knew very well what he and Petunia thought about them and their kind... **

"And what's wrong with _our kind_? We're much better than your kind," mumbled James

**He couldn't see how he and Petunia could get mixed up in anything that might be going on -- he yawned and turned over -- it couldn't affect them...**

"And because that was said, it will affect them," muttered Remus

**How very wrong he was.**

"See what I mean?"

**Mr. Dursley might have been drifting into an uneasy sleep, but the cat on the wall outside was showing no sign of sleepiness. **

"McGonagall should've become an owl instead of a cat,"

"Why's that Padfoot?"

"Because she's obviously a night owl Prongs,"

Everyone groaned while Sirius laughed.

**It was sitting as still as a statue, its eyes fixed unblinkingly on the far corner of Privet Drive. **

"Psst!"

"What Black?"

"I think someone's coming,"

Lily slapped him across the back of the head "What was your first clue?"

**It didn't so much as quiver when a car door slammed on the next street, nor when two owls swooped overhead. In fact, it was nearly midnight before the cat moved at all.**

"Psst!"

"What now Black?"

"I think that person is closer,"

"Shut up you git!" everyone else just rolled their eyes as Lily proceeded to slap Sirius again.

**A man **

"Told you!"

"Shut up!" yelled everyone else.

**appeared on the corner the cat had been watching, appeared so suddenly and silently you'd have thought he'd just popped out of the ground. **

"Apparition," they all muttered

"That means he's a wizard,"

"Brilliant deduction captain obvious,"

"Captain who?" Sirius looked around confused.

"It's a muggle saying,"

**The cat's tail twitched and its eyes narrowed.**

"That's definitely McGonagall, not that we needed anymore proof," said James.

**Nothing like this man had ever been seen on Privet Drive. He was tall, thin, and very old, judging by the silver of his hair and beard, which were both long enough to tuck into his belt. **

"That sounds like Dumbledore!" said Sirius excitedly

"But what would Dumbledore be doing in this Privet Drive?" asked Lily, everyone else just shrugged.

**He was wearing long robes, a purple cloak that swept the ground, and high-heeled, buckled boots. His blue eyes were light, bright, and sparkling behind half-moon spectacles and his nose was very long and crooked, **

"See it has to be Dumbledore,"

"But still why?"

**as though it had been broken at least twice. This man's name was Albus Dumbledore.**

"Ha! I told you it was Dumbledore Evans! I was right and you were wrong!" cried Sirius while doing some strange dance.

"I never said it wasn't Dumbledore I just asked why he was in Privet Drive, so you weren't right and I wasn't wrong," Lily said with a smug smile. Sirius just flopped down and pretended to pout.

"But like Evans said why is Dumbledore there?" asked Peter.

"Something big must've happened for Dumbledore to appear," said James

"Why don't we just find out?" asked Remus before continuing.

**Albus Dumbledore didn't seem to realize that he had just arrived in a street where everything from his name to his boots was unwelcome. **

"Why wouldn't he be welcome there?"

"Because it's a muggle neighbourhood Pettigrew!"

"Oh,"

**He was busy rummaging in his cloak, looking for something. But he did seem to realize he was being watched, because he looked up suddenly at the cat, which was still staring at him from the other end of the street. For some reason, the sight of the cat seemed to amuse him. **

"It would amuse almost anyone who knew McGonagall to see her there," smirked James.

**He chuckled and muttered, "I should have known."**

"Is it just me or does it seem like Dumbledore expected her to be there?" asked Remus while the others just shrugged.

**He found what he was looking for in his inside pocket. It seemed to be a silver cigarette lighter. **

"Dumbledore smokes!?" gasped Lily

"I don't think so Lily, it says it looks like a cigarette lighter not that it is one," said Remus

"What are cigarettes anyways?" asked Peter

"The muggle equivalent to potion fumes," answered Remus before Lily could respond. Peter looked confused by this answer but didn't question any further.

**He flicked it open, held it up in the air, and clicked it. The nearest street lamp went out with a little pop. **

"See Lily I told you it wasn't an actual lighter,"

"No seems more like a Put-Outer," laughed Lily lightly.

**He clicked it again -- the next lamp flickered into darkness. Twelve times he clicked the Put-Outer, until the only lights left on the whole street were two tiny pinpricks in the distance, which were the eyes of the cat watching him. **

"Why would he want the street to be in darkness?"

"Probably because he's not truly welcome there Padfoot and doesn't want anyone to know he was there,"

"Oh, I guess that makes sense," Remus just smiled in response.

**If anyone looked out of their window now, even beady-eyed Mrs. Dursley, they wouldn't be able to see anything that was happening down on the pavement. Dumbledore slipped the Put-Outer back inside his cloak and set off down the street toward number four, where he sat down on the wall next to the cat. He didn't look at it, but after a moment he spoke to it.**

**"Fancy seeing you here, Professor McGonagall."**

"So it was McGonagall!"

"Was there any doubt Prongs?"

"Not really Moony but confirmation is nice,"

**He turned to smile at the tabby, but it had gone. Instead he was smiling at a rather severe-looking woman who was wearing square glasses exactly the shape of the markings the cat had had around its eyes. She, too, was wearing a cloak, an emerald one. Her black hair was drawn into a tight bun. She looked distinctly ruffled.**

"Sounds like she just had a run in with James and Sirius," smirked Remus while said boys just stuck their tongues out at him.

**"How did you know it was me?" she asked.**

**"My dear Professor, I've never seen a cat sit so stiffly."**

"You weren't exactly acting very cat like Professor," Lily confessed softly.

**"You'd be stiff if you'd been sitting on a brick wall all day," said Professor McGonagall.**

"If you say so, can't say I've sat on too many brick walls for a whole day," laughed Sirius

"Maybe Professor McGonagall should make that your punishment the next time you decide to prank someone," smirked Lily "That might teach you to behave,"

"Not likely," muttered Remus.

**"All day? When you could have been celebrating? I must have passed a dozen feasts and parties on my way here."**

"Everyone should be celebrating! You-Know-Who is dead!" yelled Sirius

"And they're throwing the Statue of Secrecy out the window in the process!" snapped Lily.

**Professor McGonagall sniffed angrily.**

"Seems like old Minnie thinks the same way you do Evans, you should loosen up a bit sometimes," smirked Sirius.

**"Oh yes, everyone's celebrating, all right," she said impatiently. "You'd think they'd be a bit more careful, but no -- even the Muggles have noticed something's going on. It was on their news." **

"I don't think I've seen her this angry since you gits decided to see what happens when you put one of Dr Filibuster's Fabulous No-Heat, Wet-Start Fireworks in the second floor girls lavatory after Moaning Myrtle had flooded the bathroom again," said Remus looking directly at James and Sirius while said boys both snickered at the memory.

**She jerked her head back at the Dursleys' dark living-room window. "I heard it. Flocks of owls... shooting stars... Well, they're not completely stupid. They were bound to notice something. Shooting stars down in Kent -- I'll bet that was Dedalus Diggle. He never had much sense."**

"Hey didn't he graduate last year?" asked James

"Yeah, he was a rather strange bloke, always got excited over the little things,"

"Look who's talking Padfoot,"

"Shut up Moony!"

**"You can't blame them," said Dumbledore gently. "We've had precious little to celebrate for eleven years."**

"Hold on, eleven years…" Lily stopped a minute to add some numbers in her head "That means that this conversation is taking place in 1981!"

"What makes you say that Evans?"

"Well Black just add the numbers together, it's currently 1977 and we've been fighting this war for 7 years already, add another 4 years to that and it equals 1981,"

"But that means that it didn't take 20 years for this war to end, so you were panicking for nothing,"

"Shut it Potter, this war is still going to go on for another 4 years, do you know how much damage could be done in that amount of time?"

"No but…"

"How about we stop dwelling on the what ifs and keep reading, hopefully this book will be able to tell us that we all came out of this war unscathed," Remus interrupted before a full out argument could commence.

**"I know that," said Professor McGonagall irritably. "But that's no reason to lose our heads. People are being downright careless, out on the streets in broad daylight, not even dressed in Muggle clothes, swapping rumors."**

"And if it wasn't for those people we wouldn't know that You-Know-Who is dead!" said Sirius indignantly.

**She threw a sharp, sideways glance at Dumbledore here, as though hoping he was going to tell her something, but he didn't, so she went on. "A fine thing it would be if, on the very day You-Know-Who seems to have disappeared at last, the Muggles found out about us all. **

"She's got a point you know," said Lily looking slightly frustrated "people are being careless," she then turned and glared at Sirius.

"What are you glaring at me for, I didn't do anything,"

"Not yet, this is just the kind of stupid thing you would do though,"

**I suppose he really has gone, Dumbledore?"**

**"It certainly seems so," said Dumbledore. **

"Well that confirms it, You-Know-Who is definitely gone!" yelled James, this time everyone cheered.

**"We have much to be thankful for. Would you care for a lemon drop?"**

**"A what?"**

**"A lemon drop. They're a kind of Muggle sweet I'm rather fond of"**

"Dumbledore and his candies," laughed James

"We get offered one every time we're sent to his office," smiled Sirius

**"No, thank you," said Professor McGonagall coldly, as though she didn't think this was the moment for lemon drops. "As I say, even if You-Know-Who has gone -"**

**"My dear Professor, surely a sensible person like yourself can call him by his name? All this 'You- Know-Who' nonsense -- for eleven years I have been trying to persuade people to call him by his proper name: Voldemort." **

"Dumbledore's right, we should all stop being afraid to say his name,"

"I'm not afraid of anything just like a true Gryffindor!"

"Then why don't you say his name Black?"

"Because I was told not to,"

"By who Sirius? Your mother? Since when did you listen to what she said?"

"I don't James you know that! Alright…V…Vol…Voldemort," Sirius breathed out a sigh of relief, while Lily let out a small smile and turned to look at James.

"Voldemort," he said after taking a deep breath, her smile grew a little as she turned to Remus.

"Voldemort," he said at once and smiled back at her. Now it was Peter's turn and everyone turned to look at him.

"Vol…Vol…Voldie," he stuttered "Voldie…Vol…how about I just stick with Voldie, I can't say his full name," Peter whispered shuttering slightly. Sirius went and put his arm around him in comfort.

"It's ok Wormtail, just keep working on it; someday you'll be able to say his name,"

**Professor McGonagall flinched, but Dumbledore, who was unsticking two lemon drops, seemed not to notice. "It all gets so confusing if we keep saying 'You-Know-Who.' I have never seen any reason to be frightened of saying Voldemort's name.**

"He's right you know," said Lily with a triumphant smirk.

**"I know you haven't, said Professor McGonagall, sounding half exasperated, half admiring."But you're different. Everyone knows you're the only one You-Know- oh, all right, Voldemort, was frightened of."**

"He even got McGonagall saying his name!" gasped Peter.

"Well duh Pete, it is Dumbledore after all," said Sirius with a slight roll of his eyes.

**"You flatter me," said Dumbledore calmly. "Voldemort had powers I will never have."**

**"Only because you're too -- well -- noble to use them."**

"Good thing too, can you think what would happen to the world if Dumbledore was to turn on us?" James said with a shudder.

**"It's lucky it's dark. I haven't blushed so much since Madam Pomfrey told me she liked my new earmuffs."**

The whole group laughed.

"The stuff you learn when the teachers don't know you're listening." James said snickering

**Professor McGonagall shot a sharp look at Dumbledore and said, "The owls**

**are nothing next to the rumors that are flying around. You know what**

**everyone's saying? About why he's disappeared? About what finally**

**stopped him?"**

"Now we're getting to the good part," said Sirius while rubbing his hands together eagerly.

"Good thing too I was getting sick of waiting and for the love of Merlin Black if you start with your 'Psst's again I'll hex you into next week!"

**It seemed that Professor McGonagall had reached the point she was most anxious to discuss, the real reason she had been waiting on a cold, hard wall all day, for neither as a cat nor as a woman had she fixed Dumbledore with such a piercing stare as she did now. **

"I bet she gave James and I a look like that once though," mused Sirius. The others glared at him to shut up and let Remus continue.

**It was plain that whatever "everyone" was saying, she was not going to believe it until Dumbledore told her it was true. Dumbledore, however, was choosing another lemon drop and did not answer.**

"There must…" Sirius never got to finish that sentence because at that moment 4 pillows came sailing through the air at him sufficiently shutting him up.

**"What they're saying," she pressed on, "is that last night Voldemort turned up in Godric's Hollow. He went to find the Potters. The rumor is that Lily and James**

"No!" screeched Lily "it can't be true,"

"Yes!" James started doing some strange happy dance around the common room "to answer your question Evans you were out of your mind enough to spawn with me,"

Lily was all set to yell at him when her attention was drawn to a distraught looking Remus. "What's wrong Remus?"

"N-Nothing!" he said closing the book quickly. "Listen maybe we should leave it there for now go and get something to eat... Peter must be hungry..."

"Remus you're babbling and a horrible liar…come on what's got you so upset?" James said as he stopped his happy dance long enough to look concerned. Remus swallowed nervously.

"Are you sure you want to know it's not good…"

"Oh come on Remus out with it! I want to know how it happened. I'll bet Lily and I dueled old Moldywarts right into the ground" James said triumphantly while Lily was just too shocked that he had called her by her given name.

Alright but don't say I didn't warn you…" he cleared his throat and read on.

**Potter are -- are -- that they're -- dead. "**

Everyone suddenly went very quiet, it seemed as if all sound had been sucked out of the room despite the fact that students were starting to make their way downstairs. James stopped his dance and just stood there in complete shock. Sirius was the one to break the eerie silence.

"They can't be, it has to be a lie, my best mate can't be dead!"

James went over and patted Sirius on the back trying to reassure him that he was still alive and well. He looked over at Lily who was near tears, he went over to try and comfort her only to have his hand slapped away.

"Don't touch me Potter, its bad enough you seduced me with a love potion!"

"Excuse me? I would never give you a love potion!"

"You're right; you never were one for potions. You probably put me under the Imperious curse,"

"I would never use an unforgivable on you or anyone for that matter! Who do you think I am a Death Eater?"

"No," Lily's voice suddenly got very soft and the boys had to listen intently to hear her

"Despite our difference and how I may not like your attitude towards certain things I know that you would never become a Death Eater, you're too much of a good person for that,"

Once again the group was silent.

"I know what you're all thinking, I haven't lost my mind and I don't think the world's coming to an end but I do respect your courage to stand up for what you believe is right James, that was made quite clear to me at King's Cross and I never did thank you for saving my life,"

"What makes you think you have to thank me?" James said seriously. "Besides while we might not be close friends, I know you'd do the same."

Lily smiled a little and nodded "Yeah well thanks anyway…"

"No problem, Anytime you need me" he said calmly, His deep Brown eyes locked with her emerald ones and to Lily's eternal embarrassment she blushed slightly before clearing her throat and turning to Remus.

"Well let's keep moving…I want to know what's happened to my son…"

**Dumbledore bowed his head. Professor McGonagall gasped.**

**"Lily and James... I can't believe it... I didn't want to believe it... Oh, Albus..."**

"What do you know, she did care," James said at a lame attempt at humor and was met with a few weak chuckles for his effort.

**Dumbledore reached out and patted her on the shoulder. "I know... I know..." he said heavily.**

Everybody suddenly looked at the floor saddened. Sirius could be seen fight off tears.

**Professor McGonagall's voice trembled as she went on. "That's not all. They're saying he tried to kill the Potter's son, Harry. **

"Bastard!" yelled James

"You stay the hell away from my son you arsehole or I'll show you how fragile your wand really is!" At this Peter let out a squeak and ran behind the couch while the other boys just cringed.

**But – he couldn't. He couldn't kill that little boy. **

"That's a relief," sighed Lily "but why couldn't he kill my son?"

"Harry's some super child with the ability to be immortal!"

"That's not funny Black this is serious!"

"No, I'm Sirius," everyone just groaned while Lily threw a pillow at him.

**No one knows why, or how, but they're saying that when he couldn't kill Harry Potter, Voldemort's power somehow broke -- and that's why he's gone.**

"What are they saying that Harry, who is supposed to be a baby stopped Voldemort!?" yelled James slightly hysterical.

**Dumbledore nodded glumly.**

"Looks like that's exactly what they're saying Prongs," said Sirius grimly all sense of humor gone.

**"It's -- it's true?" faltered Professor McGonagall. "After all he's done... all the people he's killed... he couldn't kill a little boy? It's just astounding... of all the things to stop him... but how in the name of heaven did Harry survive?"**

"Maybe Harry is some super child," whispered Remus.

"But he can't be! Think about it there has to be some logical explanation for why this happened!" cried Lily.

"We understand that Lily, there probably is a logical explanation for what happened but you need to calm down getting hysterical isn't going to help any," James said soothingly which seemed to help a bit.

**"We can only guess," said Dumbledore. "We may never know." **

**Professor McGonagall pulled out a lace handkerchief and dabbed at her eyes beneath her spectacles. Dumbledore gave a great sniff as he took a golden watch from his pocket and examined it. It was a very odd watch. It had twelve hands but no numbers; instead, little planets were moving around the edge. **

"Cool it's his lunar watch," muttered Remus

"How did you know what it was?" Lily ask curiously

"He showed it to me once when we were in his office, Thought I might have an interesting in it."

"But why—"

"Moving on! Come one Moony I want to know what's going to happen to Harry!" James said quickly and loudly while Sirius elbowed Remus in the side, causing Lily to give him weird looks.

"Right!"

**It must have made sense to Dumbledore, though, because he put it back in his pocket and said, "Hagrid's late. I suppose it was he who told you I'd be here, by the way?"**

"Hagrid's coming?" asked Peter nervously; he has always felt intimated around Hagrid for reasons unknown to the others.

**"Yes," said Professor McGonagall. "And I don't suppose you're going to tell me why you're here, of all places?"**

"Now we're getting to the goods," Sirius rubbed his hands together almost greedily

"I thought Dumbledore arriving was _getting the goods_?"

"Oh it was Moony but this will be good too,"

**"I've come to bring Harry to his aunt and uncle. **

"WHAT!?" boomed Lily "No way is any son of mine going to live with my sister and her good for nothing husband!"

"Wait you mean to tell me that this Petunia Dursley is your sister?" after Lily's nod James jumped up and started yelling at the book "no way is any son of mine going to live with those people! He's going to live with Sirius!"

"Why him?"

"Because he's going to be his godfather of course!"

"You mean to tell me that I'm supposed to trust my son to Black?"

"What's wrong with Sirius? He's better than these people!"

"Snape is better than these people!"

"No son of mine is going to be looked after by Snape!"

"Obviously not! But why Sirius? Why not Remus? He's more responsible!"

"Uhh I'm not that great with kids, but if it would make you feel better Lily I'll help Sirius raise Harry that way he won't be with Sirius all the time,"

"What's wrong with me raising Harry?" Sirius said looking affronted.

"Why would I trust you with my son when you can't even go 2 hours before getting yourself into trouble Black?"

"I'm not that bad," at Lily's glare and raised eyebrow shut him up quickly.

**They're the only family he has left now." **

"Define family," muttered Lily.

**"You don't mean -- you can't mean the people who live here?" cried Professor McGonagall, jumping to her feet and pointing at number four. **

"Looks like McGonagall agrees with us," smirked James

"Never thought I'd see the say where she sided with you lot," muttered Lily

**"Dumbledore -- you can't. I've been watching them all day. You couldn't find two people who are less like us. And they've got this son -- I saw him kicking his mother all the way up the street, screaming for sweets."**

"Brat"

"**Harry Potter come and live here!"**

**"It's the best place for him," said Dumbledore firmly. **

"My arse it is," muttered James

**"His aunt and uncle will be able to explain everything to him when he's older. I've written them a letter."**

"A letter?! Dumbledore honestly thinks that my sister will listen to a letter?! Honestly! I thought after the trouble he had had with her that he would understand!" Lily said exasperatedly

"Trouble with your sister? What trouble? I thought she was a muggle why would Dumbledore even know her?" James wondered.

Lily sighed. "It's long and complicated and I'm not going to get into it right now."

"Yes ma'am" Sirius said with a mock salute.

**"A letter?" repeated Professor McGonagall faintly, sitting back down on the wall. "Really, Dumbledore, you think you can explain all this in a letter? These people will never understand him! He'll be famous – a legend -- I wouldn't be surprised if today was known as Harry Potter day in the future -- there will be books written about Harry -- every child in our world will know his name!"**

"My son's going to be famous and I won't be there to see it," sniffed Lily.

"Not going to cry are you Evans?"

"So what if I am Black! You try finding out that your son is going to grow up without you and see how you like it!"

"Yeah come on Padfoot, be serious for a second this is important." James said sadly.

"But I'm always Sirius!" Remus groaned and smacked him over the head with a pillow.

"Grow up!"

**"Exactly," said Dumbledore, looking very seriously over the top of his half-moon glasses. **

"But I'm—" four pillows then collided with Sirius head again until he shut his mouth and pouted.

**"It would be enough to turn any boy's head. Famous before he can walk and talk! Famous for something he won't even remember! Can't you see how much better off he'll be, growing up away from all that until he's ready to take it?"**

"I guess I see Dumbledore's point on that but why these muggles? Sirius would be able to make sure the fame didn't go to his head?"

"Dumbledore must have a reason for all this Prongs or else he wouldn't do it,"

"I guess Moony,"

**Professor McGonagall opened her mouth, changed her mind, swallowed, and then said, "Yes -- yes, you're right, of course.**

" NO!!!! And here I thought you were the sensible one professor! What the hell are you two thinking! They'll hate him! They already hate me! Putting a wizarding child with them is like giving Voldemort the ability to adopt!" Lily said desperately. James and the others looked equally as angry and horrified.

**But how is the boy getting here, Dumbledore?" She eyed his cloak suddenly as though she thought he might be hiding Harry underneath it.**

"Umm what possible reason would there be for my son to be beneath Dumbledore's cloak?" James Asked uneasily.

"You never know prongs, you never know..." Sirius said barely containing his bark-like laughter. Remus snorted beside him, falling helplessly into quiet chuckles.

"James—I don't know your middle name Potter! How could you say something like that about my son!?" Lily yelled horrified. James looked confused as did Peter.

"It's Edward by the way, and what did I say?" James said helplessly. This only further increased the laughter from the other two marauders while she continued to glare at him in a horrified manner.

"Think about what came out of your mouth prongs..." Sirius said between chuckles. James thought about it for a minute before his face went bright red and he proceeded to drop his head in shame.

"I really have been hanging out with Sirius for too long…" He said dejectedly.

"Hey!"

"I still don't get it…" Peter said confused. The others shook their heads.

"Don't worry Pete; we'll explain it when you're older." Remus said smirking while Peter pouted.

**"Hagrid's bringing him."**

James looked on in horror "My family is doomed…"

"Oh come on James, Hagrid's not that bad. He's really good at looking after young ones" Remus said.

"Young Animals maybe! Not Babies! What the hell is Dumbledore thinking!?" Lily screeched in panic.

**"You think it -- wise -- to trust Hagrid with something as important as this?"**

"**I would trust Hagrid with my life," said Dumbledore. **

"No offense Professor but it sounds like you're developing trust issues"

**"I'm not saying his heart isn't in the right place," said Professor McGonagall grudgingly, "but you can't pretend he's not careless. He does tend to -- what was that?"**

"Pssst…"

"Black if it's not life threateningly important I'll hurt you" Lily said dangerously

"But it is important" Sirius said seriously.

"Fine then what?"

"Something's coming…"

"James how important is Sirius to you?"

"I'm not sure exactly what you're asking," James looked at her a bit confused "but he is my best mate,"

"Then you better do something because in about 5 seconds you're not going to have a best mate anymore!"

"Now Evans let's not do something rash," said Sirius jumping up and hiding behind Remus.

"Stop acting so nervous Sirius we've got Peter for that," James smirked slightly "besides it's not like she's going to hurt you,"

"Are you sure about that James?" Lily smiled evilly. The boys all shuddered slightly but when she didn't move for some time deemed it safe to continue.

**A low rumbling sound had broken the silence around them. It grew steadily louder as they looked up and down the street for some sign of a headlight; it swelled to a roar as they both looked up at the sky – and a huge motorcycle fell out of the air and landed on the road in front of them.**

"Cool! I want one!" Sirius said excitedly.

"Sirius you want everything…" Remus said exasperated. He looked over at Lily apologetically. "He always like this…It's like hanging around with a small child." She snorted and Sirius turned to Remus and Started to tug on his sleeve.

"Moony!" He said in a child's whiny voice "I want one! Can I have one Please moony! I promise I'll be good!" James had to turn his head to hide his laughter.

"No Motorbike for you till you finish you chores…" Remus said dryly and Sirius turned and pouted.

"You're so mean to me…"

**If the motorcycle was huge, it was nothing to the man sitting astride it. He was almost twice as tall as a normal man and at least five times as wide. He looked simply too big to be allowed, and so wild – long tangles of bushy black hair and beard hid most of his face, he had hands the size of trash can lids, and his feet in their leather boots were like baby dolphins. In his vast, muscular arms he was holding a bundle of blankets.**

"Well at least we know that Harry made it safe and sound," James looked somewhat relieved with that thought.

"How do you know it's Harry in those blankets? He might have stopped off at a pub and traded him for a baby Chimera or…OW!" Lily stood over Sirius looking murderous.

"Don't even joke about something like that Black or you'll be sorry!"

**"Hagrid," said Dumbledore, sounding relieved.**

"See even Dumbledore was thinking it!" Sirius said as he hid his head beneath his arm to shield from Lily's next attack which came in the form of a slap to the back of the head.

"Not another word or you'll regret it!"

**"At last. And where did you get that motorcycle?"**

"Yes where? So I know where to get one,"

**"Borrowed it, Professor Dumbledore, sit," said the giant, climbing carefully off the motorcycle as he spoke. "Young Sirius Black lent it to me. I've got him, sir."**

"YES!! I do get one!" Sirius cried as he started doing a happy dance around the common room. James however looked puzzled.

"Hold up…Sirius if you gave Hagrid the bike then you must have been there when they pulled Harry from the wreckage…" Sirius stopped for a second.

"So? What are you getting at?" Lily had caught on to James' thought however.

"So if you were there why is Harry with Hagrid on his way to live with my sister? Why isn't he with you? Black what the hell did you do!" She said glaring at him. He backed up a step and put his hands in front of him for defense.

"Whoa! Easy I swear I have no idea, how the hell am I supposed to know what my future self did! I don't know why Harry isn't with me but maybe there's a good reason. Maybe I told Hagrid to watch him while I went after the Death Eaters that were at your place! And maybe it was taking too long so they thought that he'd be alright for a while with his Aunt until I get back!"

"I hope so Sirius for your sake…" James said worriedly. "Just promise me that if this happens you'll think about Harry and that you won't do anything stupid…"

"James honestly if this happens I promise Harry comes first." Sirius said solemnly. James nodded satisfied while Lily still looked unsure.

**"No problems, were there?"**

"Other then our house being blown up and Lily and I being dead, and our son being an orphan and going to live with the despicable muggles things are just peachy! Thanks!" James said sarcastically

"Don't worry James, I'm sure I've dealt with the Death Eaters by now, I'm probably on my way as they speak." Sirius said soothingly.

**"No, sir -- house was almost destroyed, but I got him out all right before the Muggles started swarmin' around. He fell asleep as we was flyin' over Bristol."**

**Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall bent forward over the bundle of blankets. Inside, just visible, was a baby boy, fast asleep. Under a tuft of jet-black hair**

"Oh God that poor Kid got my hair…" James said running his fingers through his own mop of messy black hair.

"Well maybe he has my hair just your coloring..." Lily said trying to be helpful

"Not likely, my family has been cursed with it for generations; it's a common trait…" James said sighing.

"Well it could be worse… after all your hair's not that bad…" James blushed slightly at this and ran his hand through it again.

**over his forehead they could see a curiously shaped cut, like a bolt of lightning.**

**"Is that where -?" whispered Professor McGonagall.**

**"Yes," said Dumbledore. "He'll have that scar forever."**

**"Couldn't you do something about it, Dumbledore?"**

**"Even if I could, I wouldn't. Scars can come in handy. I have one myself above my left knee that is a perfect map of the London Underground.**

"Sorry Professor we really don't need to know anything else about what's under your cloak" Everyone including Lily dissolved into Laughter.

**Well -- give him here, Hagrid -- we'd better get this over with."**

"Oh come on! Get your minds out of the gutter!" Lily said as the boys roared with further laughter.

**Dumbledore took Harry in his arms and turned toward the Dursleys' house.**

**"Could I -- could I say good-bye to him, sir?" asked Hagrid. He bent his great, shaggy head over Harry and gave him what must have been a very scratchy, whiskery kiss. Then, suddenly, Hagrid let out a howl like a wounded dog.**

"I thought Hagrid was half-giant not half-dog," said Peter

"Hey! Leave the dogs out of this Wormtail,"

**"Shhh!" hissed Professor McGonagall, "you'll wake the Muggles!"**

**"S-s-sorry," sobbed Hagrid, taking out a large, spotted handkerchief and burying his face in it. "But I c-c-can't stand it -- Lily an' James dead -- an' poor little Harry off ter live with Muggles -"**

"Live with Muggles? Sirius where are you!?"

"I'm on my way James, I promised you I'd look after Harry nothing short of me getting chucked into Azkaban could stop me from being there for Harry,"

"You better not get yourself chucked into Azkaban, you promised not to do anything stupid!"

"And I won't, I promise," Sirius said determinedly.

**"Yes, yes, it's all very sad, but get a grip on yourself, Hagrid, or we'll be found," Professor McGonagall whispered, patting Hagrid gingerly on the arm as Dumbledore stepped over the low garden wall and walked to the front door. He laid Harry gently on the doorstep, took a letter out of his cloak, tucked it inside Harry's blankets, and then came back to the other two. **

"Now wait just a minute," cried Lily looking furious "you're leaving my son on the doorstep!?"

"Makes it easier for me to take him back," said Sirius

"That's not the point Black, what if he needs something during the night, what if someone else takes him before you get there?"

"I'm sure Dumbledore's put some sort of a protection charm on him Lily,"

"You better be right Remus,"

**For a full minute the three of them stood and looked at the little bundle; Hagrid's shoulders shook, Professor McGonagall blinked furiously, and the twinkling light that usually shone from Dumbledore's eyes seemed to have gone out.**

Lily could be heard grumbling something indistinguishable that the others thought best to ignore.

**"Well," said Dumbledore finally, "that's that. We've no business staying here. We may as well go and join the celebrations."**

"Yes go and celebrate, never mind the fact that you've just left my son to sleep on some retched muggles doorstep!" snapped Lily looking over to glare at Sirius.

**"Yeah," said Hagrid in a very muffled voice, "I'll be takin' Sirius his bike back. G'night, Professor McGonagall -- Professor Dumbledore, sir."**

"Maybe that's what I'm waiting for, once Hagrid brings me my bike back I'll head off and get Harry,"

"You better!" growled Lily

**Wiping his streaming eyes on his jacket sleeve, Hagrid swung himself onto the motorcycle and kicked the engine into life; with a roar it rose into the air and off into the night.**

**"I shall see you soon, I expect, Professor McGonagall," said Dumbledore, nodding to her. Professor McGonagall blew her nose in reply.**

**Dumbledore turned and walked back down the street. On the corner he stopped and took out the silver Put-Outer. He clicked it once, and twelve balls of light sped back to their street lamps so that Privet Drive glowed suddenly orange and he could make out a tabby cat slinking around the corner at the other end of the street. He could just see the bundle of blankets on the step of number four.**

"I hope your conscious bugs you for years about this professor…" Remus said seriously. "Leaving a child on a door step, that's just cruel." The others all nodded in approval.

**"Good luck, Harry," he murmured. He turned on his heel and with a swish of his cloak, he was gone. A breeze ruffled the neat hedges of Privet Drive, which lay silent and tidy under the inky sky, the very last place you would expect astonishing things to happen. **

"Sirius…' James said slowly. Sirius fidgeted

"I'm sure I'm on my way Prongs, come on you know me, I wouldn't screw up when it's this important…I'm sure I'll be there any minute."

"You absolutely sure about that?"

"Come on James I'm not so horribly irresponsible to leave my godson with those people."

**Harry Potter rolled over inside his blankets without waking up. One small hand closed on the letter beside him and he slept on, not knowing he was special, not knowing he was famous, not knowing he would be woken in a few hours' time by Mrs. Dursley's scream as she opened the front door to put out the milk**

**bottles, **

"James…"

"Not now Sirius,"

**nor that he would spend the next few weeks **

"James…"

"It says weeks, weeks Sirius, where are you?"

"I…I don't know…but I have to be coming, I just have to be," James said nothing but refused to look Sirius in the eyes.

**being prodded and pinched by his cousin Dudley... He couldn't know that at this very moment, people meeting in secret all over the country were holding up their glasses and saying in hushed voices: "To Harry Potter -- the boy who lived!"**

"…James…." Sirius said quietly. James just put up his hand to stop him as he got up and walked out towards the porthole without saying a word. Lily watched him leave with surprised eyes, never in all her years at Hogwarts had she seen James Potter with such a look of fury etched on the angles of his face, nor had he ever walked with the stiffness in his shoulders that he had now. Looking at the others she made to get up when Remus reached out and grabbed her arm.

"Remus I should go and talk to—"

"Not now Lily, trust me, it's not a good plan. Give him time and a little space…" He then stood up and put his hand on Sirius' shoulder. Sirius in turn was looking towards the porthole that his best friend had just left through with a lost and helpless look. Turning his saddened eyes on Remus he finally spoke.

"Remus I don't know what happened…"

"Neither do I Padfoot, but I'm sure there's an explanation, let's all just go down to breakfast then we can keep reading and find out." He then turned and motioned Peter out from behind the couch that he had hid behind when he had seen James' face. Lily then stood and all together they left through the portrait hole, following the wave of gloom that seemed to have permeated the air in James' wake.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: The work of art that is the book and all the characters that it lists are all property of J.K. Rowling, so please don't sue us.**

A/N: Welcome to the second chapter of our story, sorry it took so long, but we are both struggling university students who are scrambling to make the grade. Thank you to all that reviewed, it was that that spurred us on to finish this chapter soo soon. And now without further adieu, Enjoy!

**Lives in Ink: Chapter 2**

Breakfast that morning was a tense affair. James was still refusing to even look at Sirius which meant isolation from the entire group. Rumors about the supposed Marauder split were spreading around the Great Hall like wildfire. Even the Slytherins were talking about it at their table where one Severus Snape rolled his eyes at the news sweeping the school.

"Pathetic," he muttered under his breath.

Over at the Gryffindor table things were much worse, Sirius looked about ready to cry while the other boys kept shooting him sympathetic looks but not quite meeting each others eye. Lily seemed to be doing some serious thinking and avoided looking at anyone. Even when a bunch of her friends called her over to sit with them upon entrance to the Great Hall she acted as if she didn't hear them and sat down with the remaining Marauders. That seemed to cause the rumors to spread even more. What was Head Girl Lily doing sitting with the Marauders? Why wasn't James sitting with them? What had happened between the Head Boy and Girl to make each of them abandon their friends?

Finally after 15 painful minutes of everyone pretending to be too absorbed in their breakfasts Lily spoke.

"Meet me upstairs in 10 minutes, I suggest we continue in the Boys Dormitory so that we're not overheard,"

"But where are you going?" asked Remus with a look that could only be described as mild amazement on his face.

"To get the last member of our party," she answered before departing.

Remus with complete understanding on what she was going to do quickly rounded up Peter and Sirius and had them out of the Great Hall in 2 minutes flat.

Lily quickly but quietly made her way towards James who was sitting by himself at the far end of the Gryffindor table and took a seat across from him. James looked up as soon as she sat down clearly looking surprised to see her there.

"I'm kind of surprised to see myself here too actually," she said responding to his silent question via his look "But after everything we just read about it shouldn't surprise you that much that I'm not ashamed to be seen with you,"

James snorted but didn't say anything.

"But I didn't come here to discuss what this means for us and how it changes my reputation, I came over here to find out with you were going to join us in reading the next chapter of the book,"

"Of course," James responded immediately "I want to find out what happened to my son…" He looked down with a slight blush. "…our son,"

Lily smiled slightly and got up to leave just as James did the same thing. The last thing the people in the Great Hall saw was James Potter and Lily Evans walking out of the Great Hall side by side.

* * *

James and Lily entered into the seclusion of the boy's dormitory to find the others spread out about the room each in some form of nervous activity. Remus and Peter were sitting in their four posters, the book lying between them and both looked up as soon as the other two entered. Sirius however looked up only briefly from him position on his four poster, he looked about ready to say something but one look from James kept him quiet making him flinch as if he had been struck. The two settled down, James doing so rather stiffly, on his four poster.

"So Peter's volunteered to read the next chapter is that alright with every one?" Remus said tentatively. James took a deep breath and nodded

"Let see what happened to my son…" he said solemnly.

Peter nodded and picked up the book, clearing his throat noisily.

**CHAPTER TWO**

**THE VANISHING GLASS**

"Interesting chapter title" Remus said. "Looks like Harry does some accidental magic"

**Nearly ten years had passed since the Dursleys had woken up to find their nephew on the front step, but Privet Drive had hardly changed at all. **

Lily tensed slightly at the mentions that they were still talking about Privet Drive, and while she didn't say anything she did cast a worried look towards James to judge his reaction, only to be confronted with his stony expression.

**The sun rose on the same tidy front gardens and lit up the brass number four on the Dursleys' front door; it crept into their living room, which was almost exactly the same as it had been on the night when Mr. Dursley had seen that fateful news report about the owls. Only the photographs on the mantelpiece really showed how much time had passed. Ten years ago, there had been lots of pictures of what looked like a large pink beach ball wearing different-colored bonnets – **

"Wow such a charming child…" Sirius said in a feeble attempt to break the tension. His efforts were for not though when he gained no reaction.

**but Dudley Dursley was no longer a baby, and now the photographs showed a large blond boy riding his first bicycle, on a carousel at the fair, playing a computer game with his father, being hugged and kissed by his mother. **

Lily looked saddened and envious "Just think these are all things we'll never get to do with Harry…" James nodded sadly before motioning for Peter to continue.

**The room held no sign at all that another boy lived in the house, too.**

Everyone took in a sharp intake of breath at this point and all eyes that were not focused on the book but seemed to be focused on James and his reactions.

**Yet Harry Potter was still there,**

"James…I—"

"Sirius...He's still there." James said calmly, the icy edge to his voice seem to cut Sirius to the bone.

" I know… I know, I don't know why I haven't got him I—"

"You gave me your word Sirius." It was as if James had struck him with a blunt object, and the force of those angry words left Sirius nearly in tears as he scrambled to apologize again only to be spared a response by Remus.

"James be fair for all we know Sirius could have been kill—" Remus tried to reason, but James silenced him with a glare, made all the more chilling by the fire in his hazel eyes.

"And where were you Remus or you Peter!. My son has been stuck with muggles that have probably treated him like scum and yet none of you went to get him when Lily and I couldn't." Remus glared back at these words.

"That's not fair James; you know why I couldn't be there. And for all we know Peter could be dead, as could Sirius, hell I could be too, you're accusing us of something that we might not have any control over!"

" But Sirius was mentioned. He was there, he gave his motorbike to Hagrid. Why didn't he just take Harry then."

"James you know what my temper is like!" Sirius pleaded. "I would have gone after the bastards you know that! What would you really expect me to do after finding you murdered!?"

" I would have expected you to keep your word!" Watching the turmoil that Sirius was going through was enough for Lily as she reached out and placed a tentative hand on James' shoulder.

"James…" He turned and locked eyes with her and she could see all the pain that lay behind his hazel irises, to see that his friends might have betrayed their word cut him deep and she truly then understood what was possibly his worst fear. "Think about this logically for a minute…I don't like the situation anymore then you do, but it's not their fault…I'm sure they tried their best. If there's one thing I seen from you lot for the past 7 years it's that your friendship is the most important bond you have. Do you really think for a moment that Sirius or Remus or even Peter would turn on you now? That they would willingly betray you like that?" Her words seemed to reach past his anger. She had a point and while he didn't like the situation that his son was left in, He was being irrational. At that thought he looked up at her and nodded. She smiled at him kindly and some of the tension seemed to melt from his shoulders.

"James believe me… by this time I must be either dead or in Azkaban…because nothing else short of those could have kept me away for this long,"

"I know and I'm sorry Padfoot, I guess I let my temper get the best of me. I was just worried about my son,"

"I get that Prongs, I'm worried about him too…"

"We're all worried about him James," interrupted Remus "I don't want to think about what these muggles have done to him,"

"Well let's find out, I've got the book in my hand," Peter said all set to continue reading.

"In a minute Pete, first I need to apologize to you and Remus for acting the way I did,"

"Its ok mate, we get it," Remus said with a smile.

"Yeah it's fine now…"

"And I also need to thank Lily," James interrupted turning to look at her directly missing the mumbles from Peter about how he could of stopped his temper if he wanted to. "I don't know how you did it but you made me see reason, reason that was clearly right in front of my face the whole time,"

"Don't mention it," Lily said with a smile "although you're kind of Slytherin like when you're angry," she teased.

"Shut up and let us get on with it," he said to her with mock anger and hurt. She just giggled and nodded for Peter to keep reading missing the slight glare he gave her.

**asleep at the moment, but not for long. His Aunt Petunia was awake and it was her shrill voice that made the first noise of the day.**

**"Up! Get up! Now!"**

"I don't approve of the way you're waking up my son Petunia," Lily said icily

**Harry woke with a start. His aunt rapped on the door again.**

**"Up!" she screeched. **

"What the hell is her problem?" asked Sirius, everyone just shrugged but James and Lily both looked very annoyed.

**Harry heard her walking toward the kitchen and then the sound of the frying pan being put on the stove. He rolled onto his back and tried to remember the dream he had been having. It had been a good one. There had been a flying motorcycle in it. He had a funny feeling he'd had the same dream before.**

"You have," said Remus wisely "but it wasn't a dream,"

**His aunt was back outside the door.**

"Man she's persistent isn't she" James said crossly.

**"Are you up yet?" she demanded.**

"Maybe if you were nice about it he would listen to you and do as you asked," Sirius was clearly beyond annoyed at this point but there was also a twinge of guilt in his voice.

**"Nearly," said Harry.**

**"Well, get a move on, I want you to look after the bacon. And don't you dare let it burn, I want everything perfect on Duddy's birthday."**

"See now you shouldn't have said that, because if he's anything like me I would just burn it on purpose" James smirked.

"I suggest you start being nicer to my son Petunia or else," Lily said stiffly

**Harry groaned.**

**"What did you say?" his aunt snapped through the door.**

**"Nothing, nothing..."**

"Aww Come on son stand up to her a bit! You don't have to always do as your told!" James said. The others nodded their approval.

**Dudley's birthday -- how could he have forgotten? Harry got slowly out of bed and started looking for socks. He found a pair under his bed and, after pulling a spider off one of them, put them on. Harry was used to spiders, because the cupboard under the stairs was full of them, and that was where he slept.**

"What!?" screeched Lily completely outraged "you…you…Petunia you are so dead!"

"Dead doesn't begin to cover it," James yelled looking furious and shooting daggers at the book.

While this was going on no one seemed to notice Sirius as he made his way out of the room arguing with himself how he didn't deserve to be in the room since it was his fault that Harry was where he was. He would have succeeded in his silent escape if right as he reached the door; James hadn't looked up from the book to see him exit and followed after him telling everyone to hold on a second.

James caught up with Sirius right outside the dormitory before he was able to descend down the stairs.

"Padfoot…" James called out tentatively "Where are you going,"

"I don't know, outside maybe," Sirius shrugged refusing to meet James' eye.

"Why don't you want to find out what happened to Harry?" Sirius mumbled something but James wasn't able to hear it. "What was that I missed it?"

"I don't deserve to find out!" Sirius yelled suddenly "I messed up! I'm the reason Harry's there and sleeping in a cupboard!"

"Sirius…"

"I don't know what happened, I promised to be there, I gave my word but when you needed me the most I'm a no show! I don't deserve to find out what happens to your son, I don't deserve to be anywhere near your son!" At this a few tears did escape Sirius' eye but he brushed them back quickly.

"That's not true," James said harshly "You do very much deserve to not only find out about my son but to be there for him. Harry's going to need his godfather, Uncle Padfoot to teach him about the finer things in life,"

"But how if I'm not there I'm probably dead…"

"I don't think you are. I don't know but I have the feeling that you're still there somewhere,"

"So what're you saying that I'm in Azkaban? I did say that the only things that would keep me away were…"

"Death or Azkaban, I know. But what could you possibly have done to get yourself landed in Azkaban, you're dead set against the Dark Arts because of your family,"

"Unless my temper got the better of me again," said Sirius glumly

"Perhaps so if that's the case I'm sure its justified. But you've learned to control your temper a lot this past year. But either way let's stop worrying over it and just enjoy finding out about Harry,"

"Ok…I really am sorry Prongs,"

"I know Padfoot, but I know that you would never do anything to hurt me or my family, hell you are my family,"

"Yeah I am," Sirius said with a small smile, the first smile to grace his face since before James stormed out of the common room.

"So do we have a truce? You stop feeling guilty and I'll stop subconsciously blaming you?"

"Truce," The two brothers briefly embraced before heading back into the dormitory where everyone was silently waiting for them and seemed to be lost in their own thoughts. It wasn't until James cleared his throat that everyone snapped back to reality.

"Everything alright?" Lily asked.

"Everything's fine," Sirius smiled as him and James took their seats again.

**When he was dressed he went down the hall into the kitchen. The table was almost hidden beneath all Dudley's birthday presents. It looked as though Dudley had gotten the new computer he wanted, not to mention the second television and the racing bike. **

"Second television? What 11 year old needs 2 televisions?" asked Lily flabbergasted.

**Exactly why Dudley wanted a racing bike was a mystery to Harry, as Dudley was very fat and hated exercise -- unless of course it involved punching somebody.**

"Why don't I like the sound of that," muttered Remus.

**Dudley's favorite punching bag was Harry, **

"That little bastard, Petunia you keep that ball of lard that you call a son away from my boy!" yelled Lily.

**but he couldn't often catch him. Harry didn't look it, but he was very fast.**

"That's my boy," smiled James proudly.

**Perhaps it had something to do with living in a dark cupboard, but Harry had always been small and skinny for his age. **

"No you're just like your father…" Sirius said snickering

"Hey!"

**He looked even smaller and skinnier than he really was because all he had to wear were old clothes of Dudley's, and Dudley was about four times bigger than he was. **

"My son is reduced to wearing hand-me-downs?"

"Come on Prongs hand-me-downs are quite common in most families,"

"Not in my family they aren't Moony, especially not those that once belonged to a whale,"

"True,"

**Harry had a thin face, knobbly knees, black hair, and bright green eyes. **

"So let me get this straight," Sirius said "He's a Prongs look alike with Lily's lovely eyes,"

"Remember Black, flattery will get you everywhere," said batting her eyes jokingly.

Sirius smiled only to be hit in the head with a pillow as it sailed across the room.

"Stop flirting with my wife,"

"You're not married yet," Sirius was once again hit with a pillow this time it came from Lily's direction.

"In your dreams Black…then again if I ever find out you're dreaming like that…" Sirius gulped.

**He wore round glasses **

"Ugh he may have my eyes but he's got your horrible eyesight,"

"Sadly it's genetic, just like the famous Potter charm," James said with a wink. Lily just rolled her eyes.

**held together with a lot of Scotch tape because of all the times Dudley had punched him on the nose. **

Everyone glared at the book for a moment.

**The only thing Harry liked about his own appearance was a very thin scar on his forehead that was shaped like a bolt of lightning. He had had it as long as he could remember, and the first question he could ever remember asking his Aunt Petunia was how he had gotten it.**

**"In the car crash when your parents died," **

"WHAT?!" screamed Lily.

"Is that even possible?" asked Sirius looking confused.

"I don't think so Padfoot, wizards are smarter than that just look at the Knight bus," said Peter. James didn't say anything but you could tell he was not amused by the notion.

**she had said. "And don't ask questions."**

"He'll ask them if he wants to," snapped Sirius

**Don't ask questions -- that was the first rule for a quiet life with the**

**Dursleys.**

"What do you mean by quiet?" asked James suddenly feeling very protective.

"How can life be quiet with a wizard in the house?" questioned Sirius.

"Maybe he's a squib," said Peter absently.

"No son of mine is a squib!" shouted Lily before James even had a chance to open his mouth.

**Uncle Vernon entered the kitchen as Harry was turning over the bacon.**

**"Comb your hair!" he barked, by way of a morning greeting.**

"He can't help it! It grows that way!" James said defensively as he ran his hand through his hair.

"Sure it does Prongs, you just keep telling yourself that," Remus said with a smirk to which James maturely responded by sticking his tongue out at him.

**About once a week, Uncle Vernon looked over the top of his newspaper and shouted that Harry needed a haircut. **

"Wouldn't do any good," muttered James

**Harry must have had more haircuts than the rest of the boys in his class put together, but it made no difference, his hair simply grew that way -- all over the place.**

"Told ya," James smirked while the others just rolled their eyes.

**Harry was frying eggs by the time Dudley arrived in the kitchen with his mother. Dudley looked a lot like Uncle Vernon. He had a large pink face, not much neck, small, watery blue eyes, and thick blond hair that lay smoothly on his thick, fat head. **

"That's attractive," smirked Sirius

"At least you're not related to that…thing. That's supposed to be my nephew," Lily said disgusted.

"Thank Merlin I'm only related to him by marriage," James said for which Lily smacked him.

**Aunt Petunia often said that Dudley looked like a baby angel -- Harry often said that Dudley looked like a pig in a wig.**

"That's my boy," James smiled proudly.

**Harry put the plates of egg and bacon on the table, which was difficult as there wasn't much room. Dudley, meanwhile, was counting his presents. His face fell.**

**"Thirty-six," he said, looking up at his mother and father. "That's two**

**less than last year."**

"Brat,"

**"Darling, you haven't counted Auntie Marge's present, see, it's here**

**under this big one from Mommy and Daddy."**

"What kind of eleven year old calls their parents 'Mommy and Daddy'?" Sirius asked chuckling lightly

"Well what did you call your parents at that age?"

"You don't want to know Evans," Lily looked like she was going to comment but one look at Sirius' face kept her silent.

**"All right, thirty-seven then," said Dudley, going red in the face.**

**Harry, who could see a huge Dudley tantrum coming on, began wolfing down**

**his bacon as fast as possible in case Dudley turned the table over.**

**Aunt Petunia obviously scented danger, too, because she said quickly, "And we'll buy you another two presents while we're out today. How's that, popkin? Two more presents. Is that all right'' **

"Sure…reward the fat brat for bad behaviour…we all know that works out well in the end," muttered Remus sarcastically.

**Dudley thought for a moment. It looked like hard work. **

The whole group erupted into laughter.

**Finally he said slowly, "So I'll have thirty ... thirty..."**

"Don't hurt yourself," Sirius said in between convulsions.

"What kind of eleven year old can't add 7 and 2?" Remus asked bewildered.

**"Thirty-nine, sweetums," said Aunt Petunia.**

"You needed your 'Mommy' to tell you the answer? Tell me stupidity isn't contagious,"

"Why do you ask Lily?"

"Because if so our son is doomed,"

**"Oh." Dudley sat down heavily and grabbed the nearest parcel. "All right then."**

**Uncle Vernon chuckled. "Little tyke wants his money's worth, just like his father. 'Atta boy, Dudley!" He ruffled Dudley's hair.**

"Apparently stupidity does run in your family Evans,"

"Shut it Black, that came from the Dursley side not the Evans side,"

**At that moment the telephone rang and Aunt Petunia went to answer it while Harry and Uncle Vernon watched Dudley unwrap the racing bike, a video camera, a remote control airplane, sixteen new computer games, and a VCR. **

"Can you say spoiled?" asked Remus

"What eleven year old needs that much stuff?" asked Lily shocked "Petunia how could you do this to your son?"

**He was ripping the paper off a gold wristwatch when Aunt Petunia came back from the telephone looking both angry and worried.**

"What did the down payment on Dudley's new country fall through?" Sirius joked.

**"Bad news, Vernon," she said. "Mrs. Figg's broken her leg. She can't take him." She jerked her head in Harry's direction.**

"He has a name," snapped James.

**Dudley's mouth fell open in horror, but Harry's heart gave a leap. Every year on Dudley's birthday, his parents took him and a friend out for the day, to adventure parks, hamburger restaurants, or the movies. Every year, Harry was left behind**

"What?" James said outraged "My son not good enough to spend a day in your presence?"

"Look at it this way Prongs, if they had taken him out more often he may of turned out looking like Dudley,"

"Good point Padfoot," James said wrinkling his nose in disgust.

**with Mrs. Figg, a mad old lady who lived two streets away. Harry hated it there. The whole house smelled of cabbage and Mrs. Figg made him look at photographs of all the cats she'd ever owned.**

**"Now what?" said Aunt Petunia, looking furiously at Harry as though he'd planned this. Harry knew he ought to feel sorry that Mrs. Figg had broken her leg, but it wasn't easy when he reminded himself it would be a whole year before he had to look at Tibbles, Snowy, Mr. Paws, and Tufty again.**

"Cause that sounds about as fun as spending the weekend with Filch" Sirius drawled.

**"We could phone Marge," Uncle Vernon suggested.**

**"Don't be silly, Vernon, she hates the boy."**

**The Dursleys often spoke about Harry like this, as though he wasn't there -- or rather, as though he was something very nasty that couldn't understand them, like a slug. **

Everyone glared at the book while James and Lily sat back silently fuming.

**"What about what's-her-name, your friend -- Yvonne?"**

**"On vacation in Majorca," snapped Aunt Petunia.**

**"You could just leave me here," Harry put in hopefully (he'd be able to watch what he wanted on television for a change and maybe even have a go on Dudley's computer).**

**Aunt Petunia looked as though she'd just swallowed a lemon.**

**"And come back and find the house in ruins?" she snarled.**

**"I won't blow up the house," said Harry, but they weren't listening.**

"Or you could blow up their house…" Sirius said innocently.

"Somehow I don't think that would help matters Padfoot." Moony said with a sigh

"No, but it would make the rest of us feel better…" James said smirking

**"I suppose we could take him to the zoo," said Aunt Petunia slowly, "... and leave him in the car..."**

"Oi! Isn't that like Child abuse or something?" James said annoyed.

"Something tells me that they don't care." Lily said bitterly

**"That car's new, he's not sitting in it alone..."**

**Dudley began to cry loudly. In fact, he wasn't really crying -- it had been years since he'd really cried -- but he knew that if he screwed up his face and wailed, his mother would give him anything he wanted.**

"Merlin! This kid is a spoiled brat!" Peter said, screwing up his face is a look of disgust, the other nodded their agreement.

**"Dinky Duddydums—**

The boys broke out into bails of laughter while Lily snickered behind her hand.

**don't cry, Mummy won't let him spoil your special day!" she cried, flinging her arms around him.**

"You mean her arms actually fit?" Sirius said evilly while still chuckling.

"I can't believe she's actually falling for this! I mean how stupid does someone have to be to no notice that their son is playing them like a fiddle…" James said snickering.

"Well Petunia never was the fastest broom in the shed" Lily said with a smirk.

**"I... don't... want... him... t-t-to come!" Dudley yelled between huge, pretend sobs. "He always sp- spoils everything!" He shot Harry a nasty grin through the gap in his mother's arms.**

"I'll show you spoiling things kid if you keep it up…" James said as he itched to take his wand.

"What are you going to do Prongs? Hex a book?"

"I'll think of something Moony, I'll think of something…"

**Just then, the doorbell rang -- "Oh, good Lord, they're here!" said Aunt Petunia frantically -- and a moment later, Dudley's best friend, Piers Polkiss, walked in with his mother. Piers was a scrawny boy with a face like a rat.**

"Hey don't insult the rats," Peter said defensively. The boys all simultaneously looked at Peter and smirked while Lily looked as if they had all grown another head.

**He was usually the one who held people's arms behind their backs while Dudley hit them. Dudley stopped pretending to cry at once.**

Everyone rolled their eyes in shear disgust.

**Half an hour later, Harry, who couldn't believe his luck, was sitting in the back of the Dursleys' car with Piers and Dudley,**

"And you call that luck?" Sirius said raising an eyebrow in disbelief.

**on the way to the zoo for the first time in his life. **

"Oh well when you put it that way then I guess…"

"I don't know, is it really worth the trade off?"

**His aunt and uncle hadn't been able to think of anything else to do with him, but before they'd left, Uncle Vernon had taken Harry aside.**

**"I'm warning you," he had said, putting his large purple face right up close to Harry's, "I'm warning you now, boy -- any funny business, anything at all -- and you'll be in that cupboard from now until Christmas."**

"'Funny Business'? What do you mean by 'Funny Business' ?"

"I think he means magic Pete," said Remus calmly, he seemed taken back by Peter's sudden outburst.

"He should be proud to be in the presence of a wizard, especially one that seems willing to put up with his attitude!" Peter clearly was outraged at this point; the others just stared and let him rant. "Muggles think they are so great. I don't understand why your son has just put him in his place Prongs,"

"'Put him in his place? What do you mean by that Peter?" asked James clearly confused.

"Err…what I meant was why doesn't Harry stand up for himself?" Peter quickly tried to cover up his mistake, "Why does he allow the muggles to push him around just because he's magical?"

"They're probably scared of him or something Peter," Lily said softly "Muggles are scared of things they don't understand, and most muggles believe magic to be make believe,"

"Besides think of it this way Pete, Harry probably doesn't even know he's a wizard for one, and two he's probably been taught to fear them," Sirius said solemnly while Lily let out a strangled cry. "I'm sorry Lily but it makes sense, they treat him like dirt, worse than dirt actually so he's probably afraid of upsetting them and getting locked in his cupboard so he tries his best to please them,"

"But it isn't right!" yelled Peter clearly not letting this go "He's a wizard he shouldn't have to…"

"It has nothing to do with him being a wizard and them being muggles," James stepped in "he shouldn't be treated this way regardless of his heritage. He's a human being not an animal," James added bitterly. Peter didn't comment but didn't seem to be satisfied with James' response. After a few minutes of silence Peter continued reading.

**"I'm not going to do anything," said Harry, "honestly..**

**But Uncle Vernon didn't believe him. No one ever did.**

**The problem was, strange things often happened around Harry and it was just no good telling the Dursleys he didn't make them happen.**

"Probably because you did make them happen," said James

**Once, Aunt Petunia, tired of Harry coming back from the barbers looking as though he hadn't been at all, had taken a pair of kitchen scissors and cut his hair so short he was almost bald except for his bangs, which she left "to hide that horrible scar." **

"I'll bet it didn't do any good," laughed Sirius

"Welcome to the famous Potter hair," James said with a mock salute "it bends to no scissors,"

**Dudley had laughed himself silly at Harry, **

"So let me get this straight the 'Pig in a wig' is laughing at Harry?" Sirius chuckled "he's one to talk,"

**who spent a sleepless night imagining school the next day, where he was already laughed at for his baggy clothes and taped glasses. Next morning, however, he had gotten up to find his hair exactly as it had been before Aunt Petunia had sheared it off.**

"Told you so," James smirked.

**He had been given a week in his cupboard for this, even though he had tried to explain that he couldn't explain how it had grown back so quickly.**

"What are you punishing him for? He didn't do it on purpose!" Peter shouted outraged "If you didn't cut it so stupid then it wouldn't have grown back!"

"Easy Pete it's just a hair cut," Remus said "but even still a week in a cupboard is a little harsh,"

"To be locked in a cupboard at all is too harsh," James fumed.

**Another time, Aunt Petunia had been trying to force him into a revolting old sweater of Dudley's (brown with orange puff balls) – **

"Eww," everyone was disgusted at the thought.

"But perfect for the pig," smirked Sirius

**The harder she tried to pull it over his head, the smaller it seemed to become, until finally it might have fitted a hand puppet, but certainly wouldn't fit Harry. **

"Nicely done Harry," smiled Lily

**Aunt Petunia had decided it must have shrunk in the wash and, to his great relief, Harry wasn't punished.**

"Trust me we're relieved too," James smiled.

**On the other hand, he'd gotten into terrible trouble for being found on the roof of the school kitchens. **

"How the hell did he get there?" Lily asked bewildered.

**Dudley's gang had been chasing him as usual when, as much to Harry's surprise as anyone else's, there he was sitting on the chimney. **

"Merlin's beard Prongs your son just apparated! That's quite an accomplishment for someone his age," Remus said astonished "some of us here can't even do that yet," he smirked looking over at Sirius.

"Hey! Not my fault I left part of an eyebrow behind,"

"Could have been worse, could of left part of your brain behind," James smirked

"Are you sure he didn't?" asked Lily. Sirius indignantly replied by sticking his tongue out at her.

**The Dursleys had received a very angry letter from Harry's headmistress telling them Harry had been climbing school buildings. But all he'd tried to do (as he shouted at Uncle Vernon through the locked door of his cupboard) **

Everyone grumbled angrily.

**was jump behind the big trash cans outside the kitchen doors. Harry supposed that the wind must have caught him in mid- jump.**

"Not quite," Sirius smirked.

"Maybe you should try that on your next test Padfoot,"

"Shut up Prongs!"

**But today, nothing was going to go wrong. **

"You just had to say that didn't you Harry," Remus sighed.

**It was even worth being with Dudley and Piers to be spending the day somewhere that wasn't school, his cupboard, or Mrs. Figg's cabbage-smelling living room. **

**While he drove, Uncle Vernon complained to Aunt Petunia. He liked to complain about things: people at work, Harry, the council, Harry, the bank, and Harry were just a few of his favorite subjects. **

"I think he likes to complain about Harry,"

"Really Padfoot whatever gave you that impression?" James asked sarcastically

"Just a feeling is all,"

**This morning, it was motorcycles.**

"Hey! There's nothing wrong with motorcycles, especially flying ones," Sirius said with a grin.

**"... roaring along like maniacs, the young hoodlums," he said, as a motorcycle overtook them.**

"**I had a dream about a motorcycle," said Harry, remembering suddenly. "It was flying."**

"It wasn't a dream, that was real," Sirius said

"Even still he probably shouldn't have said that," Lily looked slightly worried.

**Uncle Vernon nearly crashed into the car in front. **

"Watch where you're going you great lump!" shouted Peter.

**He turned right around in his seat and yelled at Harry, his face like a gigantic beet with a mustache: **

"That's an interesting mental image," James smirked

**"MOTORCYCLES DON'T FLY!"**

"That's what you think," Sirius said with a wink.

**Dudley and Piers sniggered.**

"**I know they don't," said Harry. "It was only a dream."**

**But he wished he hadn't said anything. If there was one thing the Dursleys hated even more than his asking questions, it was his talking about anything acting in a way it shouldn't, no matter if it was in a dream or even a cartoon -- they seemed to think he might get dangerous ideas.**

"But dangerous ideas are fun," pouted Sirius

"Maybe for you Black but for Harry they have nasty consequences," Lily snapped.

**It was a very sunny Saturday and the zoo was crowded with families. The Dursleys bought Dudley and Piers large chocolate ice creams at the entrance and then, because the smiling lady in the van had asked Harry what he wanted before they could hurry him away, they bought him a cheap lemon ice pop. It wasn't bad, either, Harry thought, licking it as they watched a gorilla scratching its head who looked remarkably like Dudley, except that it wasn't blond.**

Everybody laughed.

**Harry had the best morning he'd had in a long time. He was careful to walk a little way apart from the Dursleys so that Dudley and Piers, who were starting to get bored with the animals by lunchtime, wouldn't fall back on their favorite hobby of hitting him. **

James let out a low grumble but otherwise didn't comment.

**They ate in the zoo restaurant, and when Dudley had a tantrum because his knickerbocker glory didn't have enough ice cream on top, Uncle Vernon bought him another one and Harry was allowed to finish the first.**

"Well that was nice of you," James muttered sarcastically.

**Harry felt, afterward, that he should have known it was all too good to last.**

They all looked apprehensive but didn't say anything.

**After lunch they went to the reptile house. It was cool and dark in there, with lit windows all along the walls. Behind the glass, all sorts of lizards and snakes were crawling and slithering over bits of wood and stone. **

"The Slytherin's would feel at home there," Sirius smirked.

"Not all Slytherin's are bad Black," snapped Lily "What if I told you that the sorting hat wanted to put me into Slytherin? Would that change how you think of me?"

"No…" Sirius seemed to hesitate before continuing "What if I told you that I almost was a Slytherin, just the like the rest of my family would that change how you think of me?"

"Of course not, I knew that your brother was in Slytherin but I didn't know that it was a family thing,"

"Yeah, that whole bloody lot of them were in Slytherin, the whole lot of them are dark wizards, I'm the only sane one,"

James opened his mouth to comment but one look from Lily stopped him dead. Lily and Sirius shared a small smile before nodding for Peter to continue.

**Dudley and Piers wanted to see huge, poisonous cobras and thick, man-crushing pythons. Dudley quickly found the largest snake in the place. It could have wrapped its body twice around Uncle Vernon's car and crushed it into a trash can -- but at the moment it didn't look in the mood. In fact, it was fast asleep. **

**Dudley stood with his nose pressed against the glass, staring at the glistening brown coils.**

"Eww! I'd pretend to be asleep too just so I didn't have to look at that," Sirius said looking disgusted.

"Agreed," muttered James

**"Make it move," he whined at his father. **

"Brat,"

**Uncle Vernon tapped on the glass, but the snake didn't budge.**

**"Do it again," Dudley ordered. **

"Do it yourself you lazy pig!" Sirius yelled.

**Uncle Vernon rapped the glass smartly with his knuckles, but the snake just snoozed on.**

**"This is boring," Dudley moaned. He shuffled away.**

**Harry moved in front of the tank and looked intently at the snake. He wouldn't have been surprised if it had died of boredom itself – no company except stupid people drumming their fingers on the glass trying to disturb it all day long. It was worse than having a cupboard as a bedroom, where the only visitor was Aunt Petunia hammering on the door to wake you up; at least he got to visit the rest of the house.**

James and Lily seemed to be seething at this comment but otherwise said nothing.

**The snake suddenly opened its beady eyes. Slowly, very slowly, it raised its head until its eyes were on a level with Harry's.**

**It winked.**

Sirius seemed slightly alarmed that this point, the others looking at him curiously.

"What's the matter Padfoot?"

"Doesn't it concern you a little bit that your son is interacting with a snake?"

"No, wizards interact with animals all the time,"

"Not with snakes they don't,"

**Harry stared. Then he looked quickly around to see if anyone was watching. They weren't. He looked back at the snake and winked, too.**

**The snake jerked its head toward Uncle Vernon and Dudley, then raised its eyes to the ceiling. It gave Harry a look that said quite plainly:**

**"I get that all the time.**

**"I know," Harry murmured through the glass, though he wasn't sure the snake could hear him. "It must be really annoying." **

**The snake nodded vigorously.**

"Just as I feared," said Sirius with slight apprehension in his voice.

"Feared? Feared what Sirius?" James asked with concern, he seemed on the edge of panic. Lily put her hand on his arm and this seemed to calm him a bit.

"Prongs…your son is a parselmouth,"

"A parselmouth?"

"It means he can talk to snakes James," Lily said quietly "But what's so bad about that Sirius?" she immediately turned to look at him instead.

"It's considered to be dark magic, the last known parselmouth was Salazar Slytherin himself,"

"It's a Slytherin trait?" James asked weakly.

Sirius nodded "it's a very rare gift the Slytherin line valued if I remember correctly. My mother tried to teach Regulus and I everything to was to know about the Slytherins before we started Hogwarts," Sirius added the last part bitterly.

Remus sighed and rolled his eyes "Listen just cause Harry can talk to snakes doesn't make him evil, I mean come on, sure Slytherin could do it, I'll bet other wizards in history could too. It doesn't automatically make the speaker a bad person."

**"Where do you come from, anyway?" Harry asked.**

**The snake jabbed its tail at a little sign next to the glass. Harry peered at it.**

**Boa Constrictor, Brazil.**

**"Was it nice there?"**

**The boa constrictor jabbed its tail at the sign again and Harry read on: This specimen was bred in the zoo. "Oh, I see -- so you've never been to Brazil?"**

**As the snake shook its head, a deafening shout behind Harry made both of them jump.**

**"DUDLEY! MR. DURSLEY! COME AND LOOK AT THIS SNAKE! YOU**

**WON'T BELIEVE WHAT IT'S DOING!"**

"Crap,"

**Dudley came waddling toward them as fast as he could.**

**"Out of the way, you," he said, punching Harry in the ribs. **

"Hey! Harry was there first!" yelled Peter while the others just seethed.

**Caught by surprise, Harry fell hard on the concrete floor. What came next happened so fast no one saw how it happened -- one second, Piers and Dudley were leaning right up close to the glass, the next, they had leapt back with howls of horror.**

"Sounds like your son did a little accidental magic there Prongs," Sirius chuckled.

**Harry sat up and gasped; the glass front of the boa constrictor's tank had vanished. **

"That explains the chapter title," Remus smiled.

**The great snake was uncoiling itself rapidly, slithering out onto the floor. People throughout the reptile house screamed and started running for the exits.**

**As the snake slid swiftly past him, Harry could have sworn a low, hissing voice said, "Brazil, here I come... Thanksss, amigo."**

"Sounds like the snake's not that bad," Lily said with a smile

"All snakes are bad," Sirius muttered.

**The keeper of the reptile house was in shock.**

**"But the glass," he kept saying, "where did the glass go?"**

"Muggles," Peter rolled his eyes. Lily looked over at him with a slight glare.

**The zoo director himself made Aunt Petunia a cup of strong, sweet tea while he apologized over and over again. Piers and Dudley could only gibber. As far as Harry had seen, the snake hadn't done anything except snap playfully at their heels as it passed, but by the time they were all back in Uncle Vernon's car, Dudley was telling them how it had nearly bitten off his leg, while Piers was swearing it had tried to**

**squeeze him to death. **

"We wish," muttered James

**But worst of all, for Harry at least, was Piers calming down enough to say, "Harry was talking to it, weren't you, Harry?"**

"Bugger!" they all swore.

**Uncle Vernon waited until Piers was safely out of the house before starting on Harry. He was so angry he could hardly speak. **

"Hey! It's not his fault!" James said indignantly. "If your whale of a son hadn't hit him! None of this would have happened!"

**He managed to say, "Go -- cupboard -- stay -- no meals," before he collapsed into a chair, and Aunt Petunia had to run and get him a large brandy.**

"Because we all know that alcohol solves everything," Remus muttered sarcastically.

"That sentence had better have been only an exaggeration…" Lily said threateningly, "Cause if not Petunia is going to be so dead…."

**Harry lay in his dark cupboard much later, wishing he had a watch. He didn't know what time it was and he couldn't be sure the Dursleys were asleep yet. Until they were, he couldn't risk sneaking to the kitchen for some food.**

"Sounds like they couldn't squish all the marauder out of him," Sirius smiled weakly.

**He'd lived with the Dursleys almost ten years, ten miserable years, **

"Hey, that means that Harry will be getting ready to go to Hogwarts soon!" Remus said.

**as long as he could remember, ever since he'd been a baby and his parents had died in that car crash. He couldn't remember being in the car when his parents had died. **

"That because there was no car crash!" Lily said annoyed. "Besides… I don't even think James knows how to drive…"

"That's what you think…." James muttered

"Driving cars is a little bit different then riding on a broom Prongs…" Remus smirked

"If Sirius can learn to ride a motorcycle, then sure to Merlin I can learn to drive a damn car safely!"

"Hey! There's nothing wrong with my driving!"

"Says the guy who crashed his broom into the teachers stands…"

"Shut it Moony!"

**Sometimes, when he strained his memory during long hours in his cupboard, he came up with a strange vision: a blinding flash of green light and a burn- ing pain on his forehead. This, he supposed, was the crash, though he couldn't imagine where all the green light came from.**

"Well I guess we know what Voldie used to kill you..." Sirius said solemnly to Lily and James "not that there was much doubt in the first place…" All traces of jokes were gone from his young face.

**He couldn't remember his parents at all. His aunt and uncle never spoke about them, and of course he was forbidden to ask questions. There were no photographs of them in the house.**

"He doesn't even know what we look like." Lily said looking close to tears, James looked at the sadly and reached out to put his arm around her shoulders to comfort her.

**When he had been younger, Harry had dreamed and dreamed of some unknown relation coming to take him away, but it had never happened; the Dursleys were his only family.**

"James…I'm so sorry—"

"Sirius, we've been through this…please just let it go."

**Yet sometimes he thought (or maybe hoped) that strangers in the street seemed to know him. Very strange strangers they were, too. A tiny man in a violet top hat had bowed to him once while out shopping with Aunt Petunia and Dudley. After asking Harry furiously if he knew the man, Aunt Petunia had rushed them out of the shop without buying anything. A wild-looking old woman dressed all in green had waved merrily at him once on a bus. A bald man in a very long purple coat had actually shaken his hand in the street the other day and then walked away without a word. The weirdest thing about all these people was the way they seemed to vanish the second Harry tried to get a closer look.**

"Well he is famous in our world…it's understandable that people would want to meet him." Peter said.

"Famous for something he does remember and probably won't want." Lily snapped bitterly, "Honestly what kind of life is that, to be known for surviving when your family didn't. No one would want that…"

**At school, Harry had no one. Everybody knew that Dudley's gang hated that odd Harry Potter in his baggy old clothes and broken glasses, and nobody liked to disagree with Dudley's gang. **

Everyone was silent, each in deep thought about the information they had learned.

"Well," Remus said quietly. "That was thoroughly depressing.."

"Yeah, so shall we continue? Cause honestly the next chapter can't be anymore depressing then this one." James said.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: We do not own any of the characters or original content in this story, that all belongs to J. K. Rowling.

A/N: Thank you all so very much for your reviews and especially your patience, we know it's been a long time since our last update but that's what happens when you are a university student, thankfully it is now summer time and the both of us are doing our very best to write as much as possible. Thank you once again and we hope you enjoy this chapter.

* * *

"Who wants to read now?" Peter asked looking around at the other Marauders as they lounged about the dormitory.

"I will," Sirius reached out and grabbed the book out of Peter's hands "maybe I can jazz this up a bit, do a voice imitation for Harry or something,"

"NO!" the other Marauders all yelled out.

"The last time you tried to do a voice imitation Snape came out sounding like McGonagall and I couldn't sit through Transfiguration for a week!" James shuttered at the after thought.

"Alright, alright no voice imitations…hem, hem" Sirius grumbled before clearing his throat.

**CHAPTER THREE**

**THE LETTERS FROM NO ONE**

"Woot!"

"What are you so happy about Padfoot? So Harry gets a letter big deal" Peter scoffed.

"Because Harry is obviously getting his Hogwarts letter Wormtail," Sirius said in a duh type voice.

"What makes you think it would be his Hogwarts letter?"

"Because who else could it be?" snapped James looking somewhat annoyed "Can we just continue on please?"

Peter grumbled something under his breath but otherwise said nothing, Sirius took this as a cue to start.

**The escape of the Brazilian boa constrictor earned Harry his longest-ever punishment. **

"It wasn't his fault!" Lily cried while James just grumbled under his breath.

"Fat lump deserved it anyway" Peter grumbled under his breath.

**By the time he was allowed out of his cupboard again, the summer holidays had started**

"What!? And he wasn't even allowed to go to school?" Lily shouted

"That could be considered a good thing with the teachers and classmates he's got," James said in a placating manner.

"At least he'll be at Hogwarts soon so it won't really matter," Remus said matter of factly.

"That's not the point!" She shouted back then quietly mumbled "If this keep up his grades will slip…"

**and Dudley had already broken his new video camera, crashed his remote control airplane, and, first time out on his racing bike, knocked down old Mrs. Figg as she crossed Privet Drive on her crutches.**

"A new way to measure time, how many things can the Pig break before Harry gets out on Probation," Remus smirked.

"Probation?" the other boys asked looking at Remus with confusion written on their faces.

"They let him out but if he buggers up then he's right back in,"

**Harry was glad school was over, but there was no escaping Dudley's gang, who visited the house every single day. Piers, Dennis, Malcolm, and Gordon were all big and stupid, but as Dudley was the biggest and stupidest of the lot, he was the leader.**

"Sounds like the ministry," James laughed.

**The rest of them were all quite happy to join in Dudley's favorite sport: Harry Hunting.**

"If he's anything like James, they'll never catch him," Sirius smirked. James and Lily just scowled darkly while Peter opened his mouth to say something but thought better of it.

**This was why Harry spent as much time as possible out of the house, wandering around and thinking about the end of the holidays, where he could see a tiny ray of hope. **

"Hogwarts!"

**When September came he would be going off to secondary school and, for the first time in his life, he wouldn't be with Dudley. **

"That's because they don't let pigs into Hogwarts," James smirked

"No, they let greasy haired gits in instead," Sirius laughed along with the other boys at this comment while Lily sat back with an evil smirk on her face.

**Dudley had been accepted at Uncle Vernon's old private school, Smeltings. Piers Polkiss was going there too. Harry, on the other hand, was going to Stonewall High, the local public school. **

"What!?"

"My son is going to Hogwarts Dursley! And you better not try and stop him or else!" James said through gritted teeth.

**Dudley thought this was very funny.**

**"They stuff people's heads down the toilet the first day at Stonewall," he told Harry. "Want to come upstairs and practice?"**

**"No, thanks," said Harry. "The poor toilet's never had anything as horrible as your head down it -- it might be sick." **

"That's my boy," James said with a proud smile

"I like your son Prongs, definitely Marauder material," Sirius chuckled.

**Then he ran, before Dudley could work out what he'd said.**

"Smart boy," Remus laughed.

**One day in July, Aunt Petunia took Dudley to London to buy his Smeltings uniform, leaving Harry at Mrs. Figg's. Mrs. Figg wasn 't as bad as usual. It turned out she'd broken her leg tripping over one of her cats, and she didn't seem quite as fond of them as before. She let Harry watch television and gave him a bit of chocolate cake**

"That's not so bad," smiled James

**that tasted as though she'd had it for several years.**

"It's the thought that counts," said Lily

**That evening, Dudley paraded around the living room for the family in his brand-new uniform. Smeltings' boys wore maroon tailcoats, orange knickerbockers, and flat straw hats called boaters. **

They all started laughing hysterically.

"Brilliant, bloody brilliant!" James said wiping tears from his eyes after laughing so hard.

"Justice is served!" laughed Sirius

**They also carried knobbly sticks, used for hitting each other while the teachers weren't looking. This was supposed to be good training for later life.**

"Sounds like our wands, except they are good training for later in life,"

"Not everyone hexes everyone they see James," admonished Lily

"Maybe they should, it'd be a heck of a lot more fun," Lily just rolled her eyes.

**As he looked at Dudley in his new knickerbockers, Uncle Vernon said gruffly that it was the proudest moment of his life. Aunt Petunia burst into tears and said she couldn't believe it was her Ickle Dudleykins, he looked so handsome and grown-up.**

"Not the words I would use," laughed Lily.

**Harry didn't trust himself to speak. He thought two of his ribs might already have cracked from trying not to laugh.**

"Also sounds like he's part Sirius, you sure you're the father Prongs?" Remus smirked

"Not in a million years Remus!" Lily yelled smacking Remus.

"Aww come on Lily, you know you want me," Sirius winked

"Get away from my wife," James said threateningly

"Oh yes Sirius I want you," Lily smirked "I want you to stay away from me,"

"Ha!" James laughed after recovering from the slight shock at Lily's original confession.

"Shut up Potter, what makes you think I want you either?"

"Because we have a child together,"

"Ever heard about how the future can be changed?" James kept opening and closing his mouth clearly speechless while Lily just laughed.

**There was a horrible smell in the kitchen the next morning when Harry went in for breakfast. **

"Tuney must be cooking again,"

"Tuney?" asked James

"It was what I called Petunia when we were kids," Lily shrugged

**It seemed to be coming from a large metal tub in the sink. He went to have a look. The tub was full of what looked like dirty rags swimming in gray water.**

"Doesn't sound very appetizing," Sirius wrinkled his nose in disgust

"No worse than Tuney's regular cooking,"

"Maybe she should get herself a house elf," said Peter.

"No self respecting house elf would work for her…"

**"What's this?" he asked Aunt Petunia. Her lips tightened as they always did if he dared to ask a question.**

**"Your new school uniform," she said.**

"Excuse me?" asked Lily looking flabbergasted.

"Is that how you muggles do laundry?"

"No it is not!" snapped Lily "And what did you mean by 'you muggles' Peter? Do I look like a muggle to you?!"

"I was just wondering," Peter shrugged

**Harry looked in the bowl again.**

**"Oh," he said, "I didn't realize it had to be so wet."**

**"Don't be stupid," snapped Aunt Petunia. "I'm dyeing some of Dudley's old things gray for you. It'll look just like everyone else's when I've finished."**

"What!?" shouted an enraged James and Lily

"I can't believe you Petunia!" Lily shouted clearly upset while James just sat there clenching his fists looking like he could blow at any moment.

**Harry seriously doubted this, but thought it best not to argue. He sat down at the table and tried not to think about how he was going to look on his first day at Stonewall High -- like he was wearing bits of old elephant skin, probably.**

"How dare you suggest dressing my son in rags! He has the Potter pride to uphold!" James seethed, unconsciously fixing the collar of his perfectly tailored robes with finality. Lily rolled her eyes but looked incensed none the less.

**Dudley and Uncle Vernon came in, both with wrinkled noses because of the smell from Harry's new uniform. Uncle Vernon opened his newspaper as usual and Dudley banged his Smelting stick, which he carried everywhere, on the table.**

**They heard the click of the mail slot and flop of letters on the doormat.**

**"Get the mail, Dudley," said Uncle Vernon from behind his paper.**

**"Make Harry get it."**

"Lazy blighter…" Sirius scowled

**"Get the mail, Harry."**

**"Make Dudley get it."**

"Yeah make the pig get up and get it!" Peter exclaimed.

**"Poke him with your Smelting stick, Dudley."**

"Dursley…" growled Lily

"Why don't you get off your fat arse and get it yourself Dursley!" shouted Sirius.

**Harry dodged the Smelting stick and went to get the mail. Three things lay on the doormat: a postcard from Uncle Vernon's sister Marge, who was vacationing on the Isle of Wight, a brown envelope that looked like a bill, and -- a letter for Harry.**

Sirius let out a high pitched noise that sounded something like a girlish squeal.

"What the bloody hell was that Padfoot?" asked Remus somewhere between shocked and disgusted.

"That was Sirius' happy noise," said Peter looking affronted, "he only makes that noise when he's really happy,"

"I don't want to know how you know that Peter but that does explain why Sirius can't keep a girlfriend,"

"What'd you mean Moony?" asked Peter clearly confused.

"What girl would want to be with a guy who makes that noise when they are 'happy'?" Remus grinned as Sirius, with every modicum of maturity promptly stuck his tongue out at him.

**Harry picked it up and stared at it, his heart twanging like a giant elastic band. No one, ever, in his whole life, had written to him.**

Lily and James looked at the book with sad expressions on their faces

"I guess something really must have happened…" Remus surmised sadly. "For none of us to have written to him before.."

"Maybe Dumbledore told us not to." Peter stated boldly. "I mean if he put Harry with the muggles, then he would have wanted him raised as a muggle to better fit in. Not so easy to do with wizards writing to him on a regular basis."

"No way Pete, Dumbledore wouldn't do that" Sirius said shaking his head.

"He would be the first one to say that contact with us would be good for Harry. After all Harry already knows he's different then the muggles, why purposely keep us from him?" Remus reasoned logically.

"Unless it that useless sister of mine that keeping everything under wraps…" Lily scowled

"After reading all this I wouldn't put it past her" James said with a grumble.

**Who would? He had no friends, no other relatives -- he didn't belong to the library, so he'd never even got rude notes asking for books back. Yet here it was, a letter, addressed so plainly there could be no mistake:**

**Mr. H. Potter**

**The Cupboard under the Stairs**

**4 Privet Drive**

**Little Whinging**

**Surrey**

**The envelope was thick and heavy, made of yellowish parchment, and the address was written in emerald-green ink. There was no stamp.**

"This is a defining moment for Harry, getting the first letter for Hogwarts is a very momentous occasion indeed," smiled Remus while the others nodded in agreement.

"That is it, I remember the day I got my letter," said James fondly "my Mum and Dad were so proud,"

"McGonagall came to my house to give me my letter, as well as to explain everything about the Wizarding World to Mum, Dad and I," Lily smiled "of course I'd heard all about the Wizarding World from…"

"From who?" asked Sirius looking confused an intrigued

"Snape," Lily said quietly "He lives down the street from me…we used to play together all the time as children…was my best friend growing up" she had a far away look in her eyes and seemed to be lost in her own little world.

"Yeah well I was surprised the day my letter appeared," Remus said without thinking, just trying to change the subject

"Why were you surprised?" Lily looked slightly confused at this

"Uh…"

"He didn't think he'd be good enough to be accepted," James responded quickly

"Well that's stupid, you're a great wizard Remus," Lily smiled at him Remus blushed slightly and smiled.

**Turning the envelope over, his hand trembling, Harry saw a purple wax seal bearing a coat of arms; a lion, an eagle, a badger, and a snake surrounding a large letter H.**

**"Hurry up, boy!" shouted Uncle Vernon from the kitchen. "What are you doing, checking for letter bombs?" He chuckled at his own joke.**

"Nope, he's planting one, plans to give it to you as a belated Christmas present," Peter grinned evilly

"Nice one Pete, but right now Harry's about to find out his destiny, the letter bombs will have to wait!" Sirius jumped up and took a pose trying to look important.

"Stop being a prat Padfoot," Remus threw a pillow at him "that was so corny!"

**Harry went back to the kitchen, still staring at his letter. He handed Uncle Vernon the bill and the postcard, sat down, and slowly began to open the yellow envelope.**

"Oh come on!" James said rubbing his hands together excitedly. "The suspense is killing us!"

"I wonder why someone didn't come to explain it all to Harry…" Lily mused suddenly.

"I guess it never occurred to anyone that he wouldn't know, after all he wasn't born with muggles just raised with them." James answered "They would just assume his aunt and uncle had explained it to him by now."

"Obviously they don't know my sister"

**Uncle Vernon ripped open the bill, snorted in disgust, and flipped over the postcard.**

**"Marge's ill," he informed Aunt Petunia. "Ate a funny whelk. --."**

**"Dad!" said Dudley suddenly. "Dad, Harry's got something!"**

"Of course he does, he's got his Hogwarts letter!" said Sirius with a 'duh' voice.

"Yeah so go back to stuffing your face you lazy pig. And mind your own business." Peter said distractedly.

**Harry was on the point of unfolding his letter, which was written on the same heavy parchment as the envelope, when it was jerked sharply out of his hand by Uncle Vernon.**

"Hey! Let him read it first you bloody bully!" Sirius exclaimed angrily.

**"That's mine!" said Harry, trying to snatch it back.**

"Dursley!" shouted Lily jumping up off the bed "you give my son back his letter this instant!" James put his hand on her shoulder to calm her down enough to sit back down all the while looking absolutely murderous.

**"Who'd be writing to you?" sneered Uncle Vernon, shaking the letter open with one hand and glancing at it. His face went from red to green faster than a set of traffic lights. And it didn't stop there. Within seconds it was the grayish white of old porridge.**

**"P-P-Petunia!" he gasped.**

"I'd say someone is a little scared right now," Peter smirked with satisfaction. Everyone else looked at Peter oddly but otherwise said nothing.

**Dudley tried to grab the letter to read it, but Uncle Vernon held it high out of his reach. Aunt Petunia took it curiously and read the first line. For a moment it looked as though she might faint. She clutched her throat and made a choking noise.**

**"Vernon! Oh my goodness -- Vernon!"**

"Looks like he isn't the only one," Sirius pointed out quietly.

"Petunia's never been a fan of magic since she got turned down,"

"Turned down?" James looked at Lily with a bewildered look on his face.

"She sent a letter to Professor Dumbledore asking for admittance to Hogwarts after I got my letter, but she was turned down," Lily looked down at her hands which were resting on her lap as she spoke.

"Of course she would," Sirius said like it was obvious "you can't just ask to be accepted into Hogwarts, your name goes down on the list the moment you are born if you're accepted,"

"I know that now, but at the time we weren't sure how it worked. Needless to say that once Petunia was told she couldn't attend she wasn't too happy and started to take that anger out on me,"

"That's awful," James put his hand on Lily's shoulder to show his support.

"It's despicable," Peter growled quietly, so quiet that only Remus heard him while he shot him a look of slight apprehension.

"That explains why she's so nasty to Harry then, she's jealous" Remus reasoned. Lily just nodded and signaled for Sirius to keep reading.

**They stared at each other, seeming to have forgotten that Harry and Dudley were still in the room. Dudley wasn't used to being ignored. He gave his father a sharp tap on the head with his Smelting stick.**

**"I want to read that letter," he said loudly. "I want to read it," said Harry furiously, "as it's mine."**

"I'm warning you Dursley…and you too Petunia, give my son back his letter!" Lily growled lowly. The others just looked furious.

"Yeah you bunch of ruddy thieves!"

**"Get out, both of you," croaked Uncle Vernon, stuffing the letter back inside its envelope.**

" Give my son back his letter first!" Lily said angrily.

**Harry didn't move.**

"At'ta boy Harry you hold your ground!" Sirius cheered.

**I WANT MY LETTER!" he shouted.**

"Give him his letter Dursley!" snapped James suddenly giving everyone quite a shock since he's been so quiet for so long.

**"Let me see it!" demanded Dudley.**

**"OUT!" roared Uncle Vernon, and he took both Harry and Dudley by the scruffs of their necks and threw them into the hall, slamming the kitchen door behind them.**

"Watch how you handle my son Dursley or I swear I'll come and haunt you!" snarled Lily looking beyond furious at this point. The rest of the marauders were fuming quietly wanting desperately to know what was going to happen next.

**Harry and Dudley promptly had a furious but silent fight over who would listen at the keyhole; Dudley won, so Harry, his glasses dangling from one ear, lay flat on his stomach to listen at the crack between door and floor.**

**"Vernon," Aunt Petunia was saying in a quivering voice, "look at the address -- how could they possibly know where he sleeps? You don't think they're watching the house?"**

"Didn't think you'd be able to keep it a secret did you?" smirked Sirius. At that comment something clicked in Lily's mind.

"He knows," she said quietly.

"Who knows Lily?" James asked just as quietly, so quietly that the others had to strain to hear it. "What do they know?"

"Dumbledore," She whispered harshly "The address on the letter is proof that he knows where Harry sleeps...That means the Old Blighter knows my son is being mistreated and is doing nothing about it! How dare he!"

"Well, I'm sure…"

"Don't you dare tell me that he has his reasons Black! There is no excuse for this!"

"You're right Lily there are no excuses for this," Remus stepped in, "but this is Dumbledore we're talking about here, and as senile as he seems he does try to work for the greater…"

"Yeah well greater good my arse!" she snapped.

"Lily's right, what good could possibly come from shoving a wizard child with a bunch of magic hating muggles," Peter spat "Dumbledore must really be losing his mind,"

"And on that happy note, let's continue," Sirius said mock cheerfully before continuing to read before another argument could be started.

**"Watching -- spying -- might be following us," muttered Uncle Vernon wildly.**

Remus snorted and rolled his eyes "Oh yes, because the entire wizarding world has nothing better to do then to spy on you Dursley"

**"But what should we do, Vernon? Should we write back? Tell them we don't want –**

"You will do no such thing!" roared James. "My son will attend Hogwarts whether you like it or not!"

**Harry could see Uncle Vernon's shiny black shoes pacing up and down the kitchen.**

**"No," he said finally. "No, we'll ignore it. If they don't get an answer... Yes, that's best... we won't do anything...**

"I wouldn't recommend that, Hogwarts won't just give up if you don't answer them."

"What do you mean Remus?" asked Lily

"I heard from someone that if you don't respond to the first letter, they keep sending them until you do respond, and Hogwarts can get pretty uh…persistent"

"Only a stupid muggle would reject an offer from Hogwarts," Peter muttered under his breath.

"You say something Wormtail?" asked Remus who eyed Peter suspiciously as he shook his head and turned away from him.

**"But --"**

**"I'm not having one in the house, Petunia! Didn't we swear when we took him in we'd stamp out that dangerous nonsense?"**

"Hey looks like 'Tuney' tried to defend Harry," Sirius smiled slightly "but was shot down by her oaf of a husband,"

"That's a bit of a relief I guess," said Lily "at least I know that Petunia on some level still cares,"

"Even still Lily, she has a funny way of showing it," Remus said.

"Besides… I'm not sure I like the way Dursley's talking about stamping out magic." James said with a slight glare. "No amount of defense would be enough if they even so much as laid a finger on him in a stamping manner." The others nodded.

**That evening when he got back from work, Uncle Vernon did something he'd never done before;**

"What, did he decide to forgo a meal?"

"Maybe have a bath?"

"Mistake his son's hand for pork chops?"

" Come out of the closet?"

"Arg! Padfoot!"

"What, it's a possibility." Sirius said with a smirk.

**he visited Harry in his cupboard.**

"Ah so he went into the closet instead…" Sirius said sagely

"Padfoot! Promise me you will never mention Dursley, Closet and my son in the same sentence again!" I'm disturbed enough as it is " James said shaking his head as if trying to shake off a bad mental image.

"Will he even fit in the cupboard?" asked Remus curiously. James looked over at Remus incredulously while Lily giggled slightly behind her hand.

**"Where's my letter?" said Harry, the moment Uncle Vernon had squeezed through the door.**

James glared at Sirius as if daring him to make a comment as Remus and Peter joined Lily with her silent laughter.

**"Who's writing to me?"**

**"No one. it was addressed to you by mistake," said Uncle Vernon shortly. **

"Oh yes, cause you know there are so many Harry Potters in the world that live in cupboards, at number 4 Privet Drive" muttered James sarcastically

**"I have burned it."**

"You did what!?" yelled Lily immediately sobering and jumping up looking absolutely furious. "You had no right to do such a thing!" Lily turned around to look at James who was looking murderous.

**"It was not a mistake," said Harry angrily, "it had my cupboard on it."**

"Damn straight it wasn't a mistake!" Lily shouted.

**"SILENCE!" yelled Uncle Vernon, and a couple of spiders fell from the ceiling. He took a few deep breaths and then forced his face into a smile, which looked quite painful.**

"Good hope it hurts you bloody bas—" James muttered only to be silenced by a glare from Lily.

**"Er -- yes, Harry -- about this cupboard. Your aunt and I have been thinking... you're really getting a bit big for it... we think it might be nice if you moved into Dudley's second bedroom."**

"Wait a minute, hold up, back the Express up a minute." James said holding up a hand incredually. "You mean to tell me that they've had another bedroom all this time and yet they've forced my son to live in a cupboard!!"

"That would appear to be a fair assumption" Remus said glaring at the book

"I'm going to kill Petunia! Just wait till I go home, I swear I'll hex her so badly she won't be able to walk straight for the rest of her life!" Lily shouted furiously.

"Well there is one thing that came from this paragraph" Sirius said with an unusually straight face.

"Oh and just what would that be?!" James snapped bitterly

"We know for sure that Harry is finally coming out of the closet" Sirius said with a slight smirk. James growled before jumping at Sirius and knocking him to the floor and grabbed a pillow which he proceeded to beat Sirius with.

Laughter broke out as the others were brought into the fight after being hit with stray pillow strikes. The hilarity continued until the boy's dormitory room was filled with flying feathers and everyone was rolling in laughter. It was a welcome change from the tense atmosphere that had been looming over the room since the book began and everyone was glad for it. After languidly pulling themselves back together Sirius reached to take up the book again.

**"Why?" said Harry.**

"Yeah what's with the sudden act of humanness" Lily said slightly suspicious.

**"Don't ask questions!" snapped his uncle. "Take this stuff upstairs, now."**

"Pushy Blighter" James muttered

**The Dursleys' house had four bedrooms: one for Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia, one for visitors (usually Uncle Vernon's sister, Marge), one where Dudley slept, and one where Dudley kept all the toys and things that wouldn't fit into his first bedroom. **

"WHAT!" Lily shrieked "That many bedrooms and they made my son sleep in a god forsaken cupboard!? How Dare they!" James reached out and put a hand on her shoulder to try and calm her even as he seethed himself.

"Someone needs to teach these muggles a lesson" Peter stated. Incensed, everyone nodded agreeably each plotting some form of revenge that they would like to enact on the unsuspecting Dursleys.

**It only took Harry one trip upstairs to move everything he owned from the cupboard to this room. He sat down on the bed and stared around him. Nearly everything in here was broken. The month-old video camera was lying on top of a small, working tank Dudley had once driven over the next door neighbor's dog; in the corner was Dudley's first-ever television set, which he'd put his foot through when his favorite program had been canceled; there was a large birdcage, which had once held a parrot that Dudley had swapped at school for a real air rifle, which was up on a shelf with the end all bent because Dudley had sat on it. Other shelves were full of books. They were the only things in the room that looked as though they'd never been touched.**

Snickers ran through the group at hearing this.

"I guess there weren't enough pictures in them to hold the pigs attention" Sirius smirked.

**From downstairs came the sound of Dudley bawling at his mother, "I don't want him in there... I need that room... make him get out..."**

"Man I didn't think it was possible for a child to be that spoiled and selfish…" Lily remarked in an annoyed fashion.

"Well you learn something new everyday…" Remus said bitterly.

**Harry sighed and stretched out on the bed. Yesterday he'd have given anything to be up here. Today he'd rather be back in his cupboard with that letter than up here without it.**

"Don't really blame you there Harry.." James sighed.

**Next morning at breakfast, everyone was rather quiet. Dudley was in shock. **

"Oh did he finally get the chance to look in a mirror?" Sirius asked innocently.

**He'd screamed, whacked his father with his Smelting stick, been sick on purpose, kicked his mother, and thrown his tortoise through the greenhouse roof, and he still didn't have his room back.**

"Brat." Everyone muttered

**Harry was thinking about this time yesterday and bitterly wishing he'd opened the letter in the hall. Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia kept looking at each other darkly.**

**When the mail arrived, Uncle Vernon, who seemed to be trying to be nice to Harry, made Dudley go and get it.**

"That's hardly being nice to Harry, more like their just trying to keep him away from anymore letters" James said grumpily

"Well their going to find out that it's not so easy to ignore Hogwarts, and from what I've heard, keeping him away from the mail slot will be the last of their worries…" Remus said with a smirk.

**They heard him banging things with his Smelting stick all the way down the hall. Then he shouted, "There's another one! 'Mr. H. Potter, The Smallest Bedroom, 4 Privet Drive --'"**

**With a strangled cry, Uncle Vernon leapt from his seat and ran down the hall, Harry right behind him. Uncle Vernon had to wrestle Dudley to the ground to get the letter from him, which was made difficult by the fact that Harry had grabbed Uncle Vernon around the neck from behind. After a minute of confused fighting, in which everyone got hit a lot by the Smelting stick,**

"I'd love to tell him where they should shove that stick…"

"Agreed, especially if Harry keeps getting hit with it."

**Uncle Vernon straightened up, gasping for breath, with Harry's letter clutched in his hand.**

**"Go to your cupboard -- I mean, your bedroom," he wheezed at Harry. "Dudley -- go -- just go."**

**Harry walked round and round his new room. Someone knew he had moved out of his cupboard and they seemed to know he hadn't received his first letter. **

"Of course they do, its Hogwarts," said Lily matter of factly.

"Yeah, and its Dumbledore…he's always watching, always waiting," Sirius smiled eerily.

"Thanks Padfoot, now I'm going to be paranoid that Dumbledore's got an invisibility cloak or something and is watching me," muttered James.

"I wouldn't worry about that Prongs, it doesn't seem very likely,"

"Moony's right," smirked Sirius "he only needs to be invisible when he's hiding in the washroom,"

"Dumbledore hides in the washrooms?" squeaked Peter looking anxiously at the bathroom door. At this Sirius started howling with laughter while James just sent him a dirty look.

"He's just joking Wormtail," Remus calmly responded. He then smiled over at Lily who could be found humming a familiar tune. "Christmas songs Lily?"

"Sorry," she said sheepishly while the other boys stopped to listen "but when Sirius said about Dumbledore always watching it got me thinking about Santa Claus,"

"Santa Claus? How did you get that?"

"He sees you when you're sleeping, he knows when you're awake, he knows if you've been bad or good…" Lily started to sing softly.

"So be good for goodness sake," Remus joined in with her.

"Great so not only do I have Dumbledore always watching me but this Santa Claus as well," muttered James.

**Surely that meant they'd try again? And this time he'd make sure they didn't fail. He had a plan.**

"I love plans," smiled Sirius evilly.

"How very Marauder of you Harry," smiled James

"Perfect, even if James and I are gone, and Harry's had no contact with the rest of you lot, he still acts like a marauder," muttered Lily

"Of course he does, it's in his blood," said James indignantly.

**The repaired alarm clock rang at six o'clock the next morning. Harry turned it off quickly and dressed silently. He mustn't wake the Dursleys. He stole downstairs without turning on any of the lights.**

**He was going to wait for the postman on the corner of Privet Drive and get the letters for number four first.**

"Good plan," smiled Sirius

"Why do I have a bad feeling about this," murmured Lily.

"You're right to have that feeling, every time Sirius says 'good plan' something always goes horribly wrong," sighed Remus

"Does not!"

"What about the firework fiasco?"

"Not my fault, who knew they'd go off with even a drop of water,"

"That's why they are 'wet-start' fire works Padfoot!" shouted James

"Geesh," Sirius huffed "make one mistake…" the other boys just snorted.

**His heart hammered as he crept across the dark hall toward the front door –**

**Harry leapt into the air; he'd trodden on something big and squashy on the doormat -- something alive!**

"Told yeah," Remus smirked in Sirius' direction.

"Well how about from now on I just stop talking,"

"That'd be a first," muttered Peter

"And it's not likely to happen," muttered James

"Hey!"

**Lights clicked on upstairs and to his horror Harry realized that the big, squashy something had been his uncle's face. **

"Opps,"

"What happened to the 'no talking' thing Padfoot?"

"Sod off Moony!"

**Uncle Vernon had been lying at the foot of the front door in a sleeping bag, clearly making sure that Harry didn't do exactly what he'd been trying to do. He shouted at Harry for about half an hour and then told him to go and make a cup of tea. Harry shuffled miserably off into the kitchen and by the time he got back, the mail had arrived, right into Uncle Vernon's lap.**

James and Lily scowled but otherwise said nothing.

**Harry could see three letters addressed in green ink.**

"Looks like they are starting to try harder," Lily smiled slightly.

**I want --" he began, but Uncle Vernon was tearing the letters into pieces before his eyes. Uncle Vernon didn't go to work that day. He stayed at home and nailed up the mail slot.**

"Not going to work," Sirius said in a sing song voice.

"Stupid muggle," muttered Peter.

**"See," he explained to Aunt Petunia through a mouthful of nails, "if they can't deliver them they'll just give up."**

**"I'm not sure that'll work, Vernon."**

"Yeah listen to your wife you great git," scowled James

**"Oh, these people's minds work in strange ways, Petunia, they're not like you and me," said Uncle Vernon, trying to knock in a nail with the piece of fruitcake Aunt Petunia had just brought him.**

"Good thing too, I'd hate to be a stupid muggle like you!" snapped Peter while the others just stared at him. Remus and James exchanged looks when no one else was looking.

**On Friday, no less than twelve letters arrived for Harry. As they couldn't go through the mail slot they had been pushed under the door, slotted through the sides, and a few even forced through the small window in the downstairs bathroom.**

"You weren't kidding when you said they got persistent, were you Moony?" Sirius said with glee.

"Why are you so happy about this Padfoot?" asked James somewhat darkly.

"I just want to know how long and what it takes for this Dursley to lose, because we all know that he is going to lose,"

"What makes you say that?" asked Lily with interest.

"Despite the other circumstances, there is no way Dumbledore is going to allow these people to forbid Harry from going to Hogwarts,"

**Uncle Vernon stayed at home again. After burning all the letters, he got out a hammer and nails and boarded up the cracks around the front and back doors so no one could go out. He hummed "Tiptoe Through the Tulips" as he worked, and jumped at small noises.**

"Also want to know how long before he goes mental,"

"Well by the sounds of it Padfoot he's almost there,"

"I would have to agree with you Moony,"

**On Saturday, things began to get out of hand. Twenty-four letters to Harry found their way into the house, rolled up and hidden inside each of the two dozen eggs that their very confused milkman had handed Aunt Petunia through the living room window. While Uncle Vernon made furious telephone calls to the post office and the dairy trying to find someone to complain to, Aunt Petunia shredded the letters in her food processor.**

Everyone just laughed, although it was clear that James and Lily were still annoyed over the fact that Harry was unable to read his letters.

**"Who on earth wants to talk to you this badly?" Dudley asked Harry in amazement.**

**On Sunday morning, Uncle Vernon sat down at the breakfast table looking tired and rather ill, but happy.**

"What's the git so happy about?" grunted Peter

**"No post on Sundays," he reminded them cheerfully as he spread marmalade on his newspapers, "no damn letters today --"**

"And you really think that's going to stop them?" questioned Lily.

**Something came whizzing down the kitchen chimney as he spoke and caught him sharply on the back of the head. Next moment, thirty or forty letters came pelting out of the fireplace like bullets. The Dursleys ducked, but Harry leapt into the air trying to catch one.**

"Go Harry!" they all cheered while laughing at the predicament.

**"Out! OUT!"**

**Uncle Vernon seized Harry around the waist and threw him into the hall. **

"Watch how you handle my son Dursley!" James growled low in his throat.

**When Aunt Petunia and Dudley had run out with their arms over their faces, Uncle Vernon slammed the door shut. They could hear the letters still streaming into the room, bouncing off the walls and floor.**

**"That does it," said Uncle Vernon, trying to speak calmly but pulling great tufts out of his mustache at the same time. I want you all back here in five minutes ready to leave. We're going away. Just pack some clothes. No arguments!"**

"Looks like he finally cracked," smirked Sirius

**He looked so dangerous with half his mustache missing that no one dared argue.**

"Probably a good idea," said Remus

**Ten minutes later they had wrenched their way through the boarded-up doors and were in the car, speeding toward the highway. Dudley was sniffling in the back seat; his father had hit him round the head for holding them up while he tried to pack his television, VCR, and computer in his sports bag.**

They all laughed at this.

"About time that kid got what was coming to him," smirked James

**They drove. And they drove. Even Aunt Petunia didn't dare ask where they were going. Every now and then Uncle Vernon would take a sharp turn and drive in the opposite direction for a while. "Shake'em off... shake 'em off," he would mutter whenever he did this.**

"Definitely cracked," smiled Peter.

"It's kind of amusing how he thinks that they aren't going to be able to find them," smirked Remus

**They didn't stop to eat or drink all day. By nightfall Dudley was howling. **

"Pig," they all said.

**He'd never had such a bad day in his life. He was hungry, he'd missed five television programs he'd wanted to see, and he'd never gone so long without blowing up an alien on his computer.**

"Aww…Poor baby," Lily said in a mocking tone.

**Uncle Vernon stopped at last outside a gloomy-looking hotel on the outskirts of a big city. Dudley and Harry shared a room with twin beds and damp, musty sheets.**

"Eww," the boys said in disgust.

"Probably no worse then this room," muttered Lily looking around with distaste.

"Oi! There's nothing wrong with this room!"

"Keep telling yourself that Potter, but there is definitely some sort of an odor coming from somewhere,"

"That's just Sirius," Remus said with a smirk "you get used to it eventually,"

"Oi!" Sirius threw a pillow at Remus.

**Dudley snored but Harry stayed awake, sitting on the windowsill, staring down at the lights of passing cars and wondering...**

"It'll get better son," said Lily quietly "it has to…"

James put his hand on her shoulder making her look at him. "It will," he said softly, "he'll be a Hogwarts soon enough, you'll see,"

**They ate stale cornflakes and cold tinned tomatoes on toast for breakfast the next day. They had just finished when the owner of the hotel came over to their table.**

**"'Scuse me, but is one of you Mr. H. Potter? Only I got about a 'undred**

**of these at the front desk."**

"They found you," Sirius sang, the other boys threw pillows at him.

"What have we told you about singing?" asked Remus.

"To do it as often as possible," the response met with was more pillows.

**She held up a letter so they could read the green ink address:**

**Mr. H. Potter**

**Room 17**

**Railview Hotel**

**Cokeworth**

**Harry made a grab for the letter but Uncle Vernon knocked his hand out of the way. The woman stared.**

**"I'll take them," said Uncle Vernon, standing up quickly and following her from the dining room.**

**Wouldn't it be better just to go home, dear?" Aunt Petunia suggested timidly, hours later, but Uncle Vernon didn't seem to hear her. **

"Probably," muttered Peter "but he won't see it that way,"

**Exactly what he was looking for, none of them knew. He drove them into the middle of a forest, got out, looked around, shook his head, got back in the car, and off they went again. The same thing happened in the middle of a plowed field, halfway across a suspension bridge, and at the top of a multilevel parking garage.**

**"Daddy's gone mad, hasn't he?" Dudley asked Aunt Petunia dully late that afternoon. Uncle Vernon had parked at the coast, locked them all inside the car, and disappeared.**

"Yes, he's about as mad as you can be now," smirked Sirius who was clearly enjoying the thought of Vernon Dursley going mad.

"I just hope he doesn't do anything that could harm Harry.." Lily said with slight worry in her voice.

**It started to rain. Great drops beat on the roof of the car. Dudley sniveled.**

**"It's Monday," he told his mother. "The Great Humberto's on tonight. I want to stay somewhere with a television. "**

**Monday. This reminded Harry of something. If it was Monday -- and you could usually count on Dudley to know the days the week, because of television -- then tomorrow, Tuesday, was Harry's eleventh birthday. **

"That's the most important birthday there is!" Sirius said excitedly.

"What about when you turn seventeen and come of age in the wizarding world?" asked Remus

"Ok, it's the second most important birthday then, happy?"

"Very," smirked Remus.

**Of course, his birthdays were never exactly fun -- last year, the Dursleys had given him a coat hanger and a pair of Uncle Vernon's old socks.**

"They did what?" shrieked Lily looking absolutely livid. James looked about the same.

"Wish I was there," Sirius said looking dejected "I would have given him a proper birthday, presents and all."

"Let's not start that again Padfoot," James said giving Sirius a look that clearly said 'we've been through this already and everything is fine, will you please drop it'.

**Still, you weren't eleven every day.**

"Damn straight you aren't eleven everyday," Sirius said trying to get back to the humour from before.

**Uncle Vernon was back and he was smiling. He was also carrying a long, thin package and didn't answer Aunt Petunia when she asked what he'd bought.**

**"Found the perfect place!" he said. "Come on! Everyone out!"**

"This can't be good,"

"Of course it can't Moony, it's never a good idea to follow a mad person,"

"And yet you always want us to follow you when you get ideas,"

Sirius just stuck his tongue out at him.

**It was very cold outside the car. Uncle Vernon was pointing at what looked like a large rock way out at sea. Perched on top of the rock was the most miserable little shack you could imagine. One thing was certain, there was no television in there.**

"He picked a shack!" Lily was clearly shocked.

"He's still trying to find a place where the owls can't get to him,"

"That git really is mental, owls can fly over water and Dumbledore won't give up," said Peter.

**"Storm forecast for tonight!" said Uncle Vernon gleefully, clapping his hands together. **

"Owls can fly through storms too," smirked James.

**"And this gentleman's kindly agreed to lend us his boat!"**

**A toothless old man came ambling up to them, pointing, with a rather wicked grin, at an old rowboat bobbing in the iron-gray water below them.**

"You'd have to be mental to trust a guy like that," James said looking disgusted.

"Oh look Dursley is mental! What do you know!" Sirius said bubbly.

"Oh Shut up Padfoot"

**"I've already got us some rations," said Uncle Vernon, "so all aboard!"**

**It was freezing in the boat. Icy sea spray and rain crept down their necks and a chilly wind whipped their faces.**

"I hope Harry doesn't catch a cold"

"No worries Lily, he'll be alright soon." James said soothingly.

**After what seemed like hours they reached the rock, where Uncle Vernon, slipping and sliding, led the way to the broken-down house.**

**The inside was horrible; it smelled strongly of seaweed, the wind whistled through the gaps in the wooden walls, and the fireplace was damp and empty. There were only two rooms.**

"Makes your room here look like a haven," muttered Lily.

**Uncle Vernon's rations turned out to be a bag of chips each and four bananas. He tried to start a fire but the empty chip bags just smoked and shriveled up.**

**"Could do with some of those letters now, eh?" he said cheerfully.**

"Git,"

**He was in a very good mood. Obviously he thought nobody stood a chance of reaching them here in a storm to deliver mail. Harry privately agreed, though the thought didn't cheer him up at all.**

"Don't worry Harry, takes more than a storm and a run down old shack to stop Dumbledore from owling you a letter," smiled Lily

**As night fell, the promised storm blew up around them. Spray from the high waves splattered the walls of the hut and a fierce wind rattled the filthy windows. Aunt Petunia found a few moldy blankets in the second room and made up a bed for Dudley on the moth-eaten sofa. She and Uncle Vernon went off to the lumpy bed next door, and Harry was left to find the softest bit of floor he could and to curl up under the thinnest, most ragged blanket.**

Everyone glared but said nothing. Lily could be seen wiping angry tears out of her eyes.

**The storm raged more and more ferociously as the night went on. Harry couldn't sleep. He shivered and turned over, trying to get comfortable, his stomach rumbling with hunger. Dudley's snores were drowned by the low rolls of thunder that started near midnight. The lighted dial of Dudley's watch, which was dangling over the edge of the sofa on his fat wrist, told Harry he'd be eleven in ten minutes' time. He lay and watched his birthday tick nearer, wondering if the Dursleys would remember at all, wondering where the letter writer was now.**

Lily was allowing her tears to flow freely now, and James had once again put his hand on her shoulder to try and comfort her. He was looking pretty anguished himself.

"It's not fair, just not fair," Sirius was heard muttering softly while he wiped at his own eyes. Other than that the room was quiet.

**Five minutes to go. Harry heard something creak outside. He hoped the roof wasn't going to fall in, although he might be warmer if it did.**

"I do hope it doesn't cave in, it could hurt him, or worse kill him," Lily said clearly worried.

"I'm sure the roof is fine Lily," James said trying to calm her as she seemed on the verge of a panic attack.

**Four minutes to go. Maybe the house in Privet Drive would be so full of letters when they got back that he'd be able to steal one somehow.**

"That's a happy thought," smiled Remus.

**Three minutes to go. Was that the sea, slapping hard on the rock like that? And (two minutes to go) what was that funny crunching noise? Was the rock crumbling into the sea?**

"I think someone's coming," said James looking somewhat alarmed.

"How Prongs? They're in a shack on an island in the middle of nowhere, how would they have gotten there?"

"I don't know Moony, but I just have this feeling,"

"Maybe Dumbledore finally sent someone to get Harry," Lily said quietly trying to sound hopeful.

"It's possible, but highly unlikely," sighed Remus.

"Please Remus," Lily begged "let me have just a little hope for my son on his eleventh birthday?"

"Alright Lily, it's someone coming to help Harry,"

"Thanks Remus," Lily smiled

"Hey Lily, anytime you want to beg me for something, I'll be more than willing to oblige," Sirius smirked and wagged his eyebrows suggestively.

"Sod off Black!"

"Stop hitting on my future wife Padfoot!"

**One minute to go and he'd be eleven. Thirty seconds... twenty ... ten... nine -- maybe he'd wake Dudley up, just to annoy him -- three... two... one...**

**BOOM.**

Sirius yelled the last word, shocking everyone and causing them to jump.

"What the hell was that for Padfoot?" asked an annoyed James.

"You'll see,"

**The whole shack shivered and Harry sat bolt upright, staring at the door. Someone was outside, knocking to come in.**

"Maybe Lily was right, and someone is coming for Harry," Remus seemed slightly shocked at that prospect.

"Or maybe it's a sea monster coming to finish off the pig and his parents," smirked Sirius evilly.

"Well don't just sit there, let's find out!" Lily snapped clearly getting annoyed.

"Alright, alright, who wants to read next?"


	4. Chapter 4

Enjoy :)

CHAPTER FOUR

"Who wants to read next?" Sirius looked around at everyone else in the room.

"I will," James reached over and took the book from Sirius "I haven't read yet anyways,"

**CHAPTER FOUR**

**THE KEEPER OF THE KEYS**

**BOOM. **

**They knocked again. Dudley jerked awake. "Where's the cannon?" he said stupidly.**

"What's a cannon?" asked Peter

"It's an old war weapon that was used years ago to defend places like forts, ships, castles and such," Lily stated matter of factly "they shot out large metal balls about the size of quaffles, they could cause a lot of damage but took a long time to load,"

"Which gave the enemy plenty of time to counterattack," Remus finished while shooting Lily a smile causing her to blush slightly.

**There was a crash behind them and Uncle Vernon came skidding into the room. He was holding a rifle in his hands – **

"What's a rifle?" Peter asked this time.

"It's a type of gun," Remus began.

"What's a gun?" Peter interrupted.

"It's a muggle weapon Wormtail," James calmly stated.

"Exactly," Lily nodded smiling in James' direction clearly impressed by his knowledge of the muggle world "there are many different types of guns. A rifle is most distinguished by its long shaft…" Sirius immediately started giggling like a school girl at this comment. "What on earth is so funny?" she rounded on Sirius.

"You said 'long shaft…'"

"Grow up Black!"

"So tell me Lily, you like them long?" Sirius asked seductively with a smirk causing her to blush.

"Why, yes Black I do in fact like them long," at this Sirius' smirk became a huge grin "which is why I will never go out with you," Lily finished with a smirk of her own while wiping the smile right off Sirius' face. This caused James and Remus to dissolve into fits of laughter.

"Don't know what you're missing Evans," Sirius grumbled

"I don't get it," stated Peter which made James and Remus laugh even harder.

"Don't… worry… about it… Wormtail, it's… not important," Remus said while still laughing.

"Anyways, continuing on with what I was saying before I was interrupted," Lily shot a glare over to Sirius who was still sulking "rifles are a type of gun that is mostly used in hunting, just like any gun they shoot small metal projectiles called bullets that are used to kill the animal being hunted,"

"Then why would this muggle have one? Was he planning on going hunting or something?"

"Probably thought he'd try and shoot the 'person' who was delivering the letters," James said nonchalantly.

"Probably" the others murmured in agreement.

**now they knew what had been in the long, thin package he had brought with them.**

**"Who's there?" he shouted. "I warn you -- I'm armed!"**

"Armed?" Peter blinked blankly.

"It means he has a gun," Lily said quickly.

"Are you going to question every line Wormtail?" James asked bluntly

"Yeah Wormtail, some of us actually want to know what's going to happen sometime this century," Sirius said while shooting Peter a look.

"Well sorry, didn't know the 'Dursley' questioning rules applied here," Peter grumbled before retreating farther back onto his bed to sulk.

"It's not that Peter, just…" Lily tried to explain.

"Forget it Lily, he gets like this sometime," Remus said softly.

**There was a pause. Then --**

**SMASH!**

**The door was hit with such force that it swung clean off its hinges and with a deafening crash landed flat on the floor.**

"AHHH!! We're being attacked!" screamed Sirius.

"What!? Where?!" the others yelled jumping up, grabbing their wands and looking around for the attackers. At this Sirius burst out laughing.

"Not funny Padfoot!" yelled Remus while throwing pillows at him.

"Aww come on Moony, it was just a joke," Sirius whined.

"Well it wasn't a very funny one, You nearly gave us all heart attacks!" James said with a slight glare, Lily just nodded looking equally upset.

"Considering what we all went through I'm surprised at you Sirius…" Remus said gravely.

"Alright you lot, I'm sorry, I promise I won't do anything like that again,"

"Good," Lily said primly "Because if you do, I won't be responsible for my actions,"

Sirius just audibly gulped at her stone hard expression, he knew she was not joking.

**A giant of a man was standing in the doorway. His face was almost completely hidden by a long, shaggy mane of hair and a wild, tangled beard, but you could make out his eyes, glinting like black beetles under all the hair.**

"Hey that sounds like Hagrid!" Sirius said excitedly.

"Dumbledore sent Hagrid to rescue Harry from my sister?" Lily said incredulously.

"Why not, he sent Hagrid when it was time to bring Harry to your sister's place," Sirius shrugged.

"My family's doomed," James groaned.

"It won't be that bad Prongs, Dumbledore did say that he trusts Hagrid with his life," Remus stated calmly.

"Looks like his trust issues haven't improved any in the last 10 years," grumbled James

"Well at least Harry's old enough to look out for himself if Hagrid was to do something reckless," Lily said hopefully, trying to convince herself of that as much as the others.

"Yeah, I guess"

**The giant squeezed his way into the hut, stooping so that his head just brushed the ceiling. He bent down, picked up the door, and fitted it easily back into its frame. The noise of the storm outside dropped a little. He turned to look at them all.**

**"Couldn't make us a cup o' tea, could yeh? It's not been an easy journey..."**

"Only Hagrid would automatically assume he was welcome after breaking down someone's front door." Sirius chuckled. Everyone else nodded with smiles.

"Too true but still, it must be hard work trailing a madman,"

"Why do you say that Moony?"

"Well, I've never trailed a mad man but I have spent the last 6 years sharing a dormitory with you Padfoot, so I guess it's be about the same,"

"Sod off Moony," Sirius threw a pillow at Remus.

**He strode over to the sofa where Dudley sat frozen with fear.**

**"Budge up, yeh great lump," said the stranger.**

"Okay you know when Hagrid makes a remark about someone's size that should be a big warning sign that Dudley is far to large to be healthy…" James snickered.

**Dudley squeaked and ran to hide behind his mother, who was crouching, terrified, behind Uncle Vernon.**

"Right like that'll work" Sirius said sarcastically.

"Would he even fit?" James asked looking at the others.

"He may fit now, but in a few years he won't if he keeps up his current habits," Lily laughed.

**"An' here's Harry!" said the giant.**

**Harry looked up into the fierce, wild, shadowy face and saw that the beetle eyes were crinkled in a smile.**

**"Las' time I saw you, you was only a baby," said the giant. "Yeh look a lot like yet dad, but yeh've got yet mom's eyes."**

James and Lily shared a small sad smile with one another, "well at least we know he's real good looking kid, he'll have all the ladies fawning over him, just like his old man," James arrogantly smirked.

"You just had to ruin the moment with that ego of yours didn't you Potter?" Lily scoffed "I swear if my son ends up with a big head I'm blaming you,"

**Uncle Vernon made a funny rasping noise.**

"**I demand that you leave at once, sir!" he said. "You are breaking and entering!"**

**"Ah, shut up, Dursley, yeh great prune," said the giant; he reached over the back of the sofa, jerked the gun out of Uncle Vernon's hands, bent it into a knot as easily as if it had been made of rubber, and threw it into a corner of the room.**

"Cool!" Sirius yelled excitedly.

"Geesh Black you make it sound like Christmas came early," Lily teased.

"Sirius gets excited over the smallest things," James smirked, while Sirius stuck his tongue out at him.

"Well you know what they say about small things and small minds," Lily smirked while the other marauders laughed, Sirius pretended to be hurt and faked a pout.

**Uncle Vernon made another funny noise, like a mouse being trodden on.**

**"Anyway -- Harry," said the giant, turning his back on the Dursleys, "a very happy birthday to yeh. Got summat fer yeh here -- I mighta sat on it at some point, but it'll taste all right."**

"Don't eat it!" they all yelled.

**From an inside pocket of his black overcoat he pulled a slightly squashed box. Harry opened it with trembling fingers. Inside was a large, sticky chocolate cake with Happy Birthday Harry written on it in green icing.**

"Well the thought is nice, and it really should be the thought that counts," Lily tried to reason.

"Even still, don't eat it Harry," James said looking slightly worried.

"Yeah, rule number one of Hogwarts, never eat anything Hagrid gives you, trust me I know," Sirius shuddered lightly.

"Why what happened?" Lily asked

"He actually managed to eat one of Hagrid's rock cakes…" James started.

"How did you accomplish that?" Lily asked clearly shocked "And why?"

"James promised me 5 Galleons if I did, and I did want to know what they tasted like, so I ground it up into smaller pieces and swallowed them whole," Sirius shrugged.

"Anyways, it went down ok, or so it seemed, but it made him sick, really sick," James shuddered at the memory.

"I was sick as a dog for days," the marauders shared a private smile over the reference.

**Harry looked up at the giant. He meant to say thank you, but the words got lost on the way to his mouth, and what he said instead was, "Who are you?"**

"That's right," whispered Sirius "Harry doesn't know who Hagrid is,"

"Stupid muggles," Peter grumbled quietly

**The giant chuckled.**

**"True, I haven't introduced meself. Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts."**

**He held out an enormous hand and shook Harry's whole arm.**

"Somehow I don't think that introduction cleared up anything for Harry…"

"Gee you think Peter?" James said rolling his eyes slightly.

**"What about that tea then, eh?" he said, rubbing his hands together.**

**"I'd not say no ter summat stronger if yeh've got it, mind."**

"Here, here!" cheered Sirius "I wouldn't say no to something stronger either, what do you guys say to sneaking down to Hogsmeade later to grab some firewhiskey?"

"Sirius Black! How dare you…" Lily started.

"I'm up for that," James nodded.

"You are Head Boy Potter!" Lily hissed at James "You are supposed to stop this kind of behaviour, not encourage it!"

"Relax Evans, it's not like we're underage or anything," Sirius smirked slightly.

"Besides, it's not like we'd be bringing it back and giving it to the younger students," Remus reasoned.

"Not you too Remus! You're a Prefect!"

"Come on Lily, you saying that after everything we've heard so far that a drink or two wouldn't be nice?" James asked with a complete straight face. Lily looked around at the other boys who seemed to be eagerly awaiting her answer.

"Well…er…" Lily stammered while blushing slightly "maybe just a quick nip down in the village wouldn't be too bad," she quickly looked away so not to see the triumphant smirks on all four boys faces.

"Looks like the marauders have won again, Careful Lily, we might just have you converted over to the dark side yet." Sirius smirked, Lily just threw a pillow at him.

"It would take more then the likes of you lot to convert me into anything Black, except maybe a nun."

**His eyes fell on the empty grate with the shriveled chip bags in it and he snorted. He bent down over the fireplace; they couldn't see what he was doing but when he drew back a second later, there was a roaring fire there. It filled the whole damp hut with flickering light and Harry felt the warmth wash over him as though he'd sunk into a hot bath.**

"Thank Merlin for magic!" cheered Sirius

"You lot would be so lost in the muggle world," Lily said shaking her said "well all of you but Remus perhaps," Remus just smiled at her.

"Why would we be in the muggle world anyways?" Peter scoffed.

"You never know Pete," Remus laughed "although I think some would be lost more than others, don't you think so Lily?"

"Agreed,"

"Oh I don't know surviving in the muggle world isn't so hard…" James said whimsically.

"And what would you know about it mister I can't survive without magic." Lily said sarcastically.

"I spent a month in the muggle world with a friend of my dad's. It was during that ministry auror scare last year. Dad got all paranoid and sent mum off to my aunts place and I went with my dad's friend. He's a muggle police officer, we had a blast." James said to a slightly shocked lily.

"Well the wonders never cease…" Lily said in slight awe.

**The giant sat back down on the sofa, which sagged under his weight, and began taking all sorts of things out of the pockets of his coat: a copper kettle, a squashy package of sausages, a poker, a teapot, several chipped mugs, and a bottle of some amber liquid that he took a swig from before starting to make tea. **

"Hagrid's holding out on us!" Sirius shouted mock offended.

"You better not offer any of that to Harry, Hagrid!" Lily shouted sternly.

"Aww come on Lily, a little wouldn't hurt him, warm him right up!"

"No way Potter! He is too young for alcohol,"

"She's right Prongs," Remus reasoned "Harry is only eleven, a recent eleven at that,"

"I had my first taste of alcohol at age eleven,"

"That explains so much Black,"

**Soon the hut was full of the sound and smell of sizzling sausage. Nobody said a thing while the giant was working, but as he slid the first six fat, juicy, slightly burnt sausages from the poker, Dudley fidgeted a little. **

"Pig,"

**Uncle Vernon said sharply, "Don't touch anything he gives you, Dudley."**

"Because clearly it's poisoned," muttered Sirius sarcastically.

**The giant chuckled darkly.**

**"Yet great puddin' of a son don' need fattenin' anymore, Dursley, don' worry."**

They all burst out laughing at this. While cheers of "Go Hagrid!" could be heard from a couple of the boys.

**He passed the sausages to Harry, who was so hungry he had never tasted anything so wonderful, **

Everyone glared at the book.

"You just wait till I get my hands on you Dursley. Practically starving my son while that whale of a boy of his eats as much as he likes. No wonder Harry's small for his age.." Lily seethed

"Actually Lily I don't think lack of food made him small, James was small when he was younger too—"

"Don't try to justify it Remus! It doesn't change the fact that they starve him!"

"No it certainly doesn't but for now we'll add it to the severely long list of things to beat the Dursley's for, now lets just get back to the story, Things might be looking up for Harry now.." James said sagely. Lily seethed some more but fell quiet.

**but he still couldn't take his eyes off the giant. Finally, as nobody seemed about to explain anything, he said,**

**"I'm sorry, but I still don't really know who you are."**

**The giant took a gulp of tea and wiped his mouth with the back of his**

**hand.**

Lily seemed about to say something about manners but with a look from James decided to hold her tongue.

**"Call me Hagrid," he said, "everyone does. An' like I told yeh, I'm**

**Keeper of Keys at Hogwarts -- yeh'll know all about Hogwarts, o' course."**

"Sorry to disappoint Hagrid but he has no clue yet. But I'm sure he'll like the news when you tell him." Sirius said as everyone else nodded.

**"Er -- no," said Harry.**

**Hagrid looked shocked.**

"Why should he be shocked? Surely he doesn't think that my sister would have told Harry anything about Hogwarts."

"Obviously that's exactly what he thinks Lily." Peter said casually.

"But I've told him about my sister! He knows she hates magic, surely he wouldn't be that blind!" Lily said slightly shocked.

"Obviously he must think that by raising a Wizard child, their opinions must have changed." Remus said in slight exasperation.

Sirius snorted "wow is he in for a surprise…"

**"Sorry," Harry said quickly.**

"You shouldn't have to apologize Harry, It's my idiot sister in law that should apologize…" James muttered.

**"Sorry?" barked Hagrid, turning to stare at the Dursleys, who shrank back into the shadows. "It's them as should be sorry! I knew yeh weren't**

**gettin' yer letters but I never thought yeh wouldn't even know abou'**

**Hogwarts, fer cryin' out loud! Did yeh never wonder where yer parents learned it all?"**

"And a fine institution of learning it is too." Sirius exclaimed raising a glass of water he had just retrieved from a night table near his bed.

"Here here!" Everyone cheered.

"A finer school you'll find nowhere else!" Peter chimed in.

**"All what?" asked Harry.**

"Oh dear Hagrid's not going to like that." Remus mused.

**"ALL WHAT?" Hagrid thundered. "Now wait jus' one second!"**

"Hagrid's pissed, maybe we won't have to kick their arses," Sirius said excitedly rubbing his hands together.

"Even if Hagrid does kick their arses, which I doubt he will knowing Hagrid, it still won't be enough,"

"Moony's right, and even if Hagrid does on the odd chance kick their arses, I'd still like a little piece of the action for myself," James smiled evilly.

"Well if you really want to kick someone's arse we could always try to find Snivellius," Sirius teased.

"The offer does sound tempting," James seemed to contemplate it for a moment "but maybe later, right now I want to find out what Hagrid does to the Dursleys," The others nodded in agreement. Lily rolled her eyes at the topic of kicking Snape's arse but if one looked closely they could see a small smile on her face.

**He had leapt to his feet. In his anger he seemed to fill the whole hut.**

**The Dursleys were cowering against the wall.**

"Ahh revenge is sweet," Sirius was once again rubbing his hands in an evil fashion.

"Justice is served," Lily smirked evilly while sharing a smile with James.

"And to think there's more to come," Peter said with a truly evil yet triumphant smile on his face that no one seemed to notice.

**"Do you mean ter tell me," he growled at the Dursleys, "that this boy -- this boy! -- knows nothin' abou' -- about ANYTHING?"**

"Geesh Hagrid, you make it sound like he's an idiot or something," Remus winced. The others all nodded in agreement.

"Well he is a little behind on things concerning the Wizarding world," James reasoned.

"No more behind then I was at this point, or the other muggleborn students starting their first year," No one had noticed the scowl that appear on Peter's face at this comment.

"She's got a point Prongsie,"

"Don't call me Prongsie Padfoot!"

"Ok Jamesie,"

"Urgh!" James threw a pillow at Sirius.

**Harry thought this was going a bit far. He had been to school, after all, and his marks weren't bad.**

**"I know some things," he said. "I can, you know, do math and stuff." But**

**Hagrid simply waved his hand and said, "About our world, I mean. Your**

**world. My world. Yer parents' world."**

**"What world?"**

Everyone looked a cross between saddened at this prospect and angered by it.

**Hagrid looked as if he was about to explode.**

**"DURSLEY!" he boomed.**

**Uncle Vernon, who had gone very pale, whispered something that sounded**

**like "Mimblewimble." Hagrid stared wildly at Harry.**

Everyone just laughed at this.

**"But yeh must know about yer mum and dad," he said. "I mean, they're**

**famous. You're famous."**

"Famous for living while your family died, famous for something that he'll never remember," grumbled James, Lily put her hand on his shoulder and gave him a small sad smile.

**"What? My -- my mum and dad weren't famous, were they?"**

**"Yeh don' know... yeh don' know..." Hagrid ran his fingers through his**

**hair, fixing Harry with a bewildered stare.**

"Of course he doesn't, none of us know what really happened. The only people who really know are the Lily and James of that time, and well…" Sirius trailed off, everyone else immediately looked over at James and Lily almost as if trying to convince themselves that they were still alive and with them.

"That may not be true Sirius," Remus said quietly after some time "There may be someone else who really knows what happened that night,"

"You're not talking about You-Know-Who are you Moony?" Peter said with a tremble.

"No Wormtail, I'm not talking about Voldemort," Peter shuddered even harder at the mention of the name "you really need to work on getting over the fear of saying his name,"

"Yeah Wormy, it's just a name after all," Sirius teased.

"I..I just…can't," trembled Peter looking truly afraid.

"Look are you a Gryffindor or not?"

"I am a Gryf…Gryffindor, but I can…can't say it," Peter studdered

"Leave him alone Padfoot," Remus stepped in before Sirius could continue "stop tormenting him,"

"Yeah," Peter said a little stronger than before "some of us have been taught to fear him since the early days,"

"And some of us have been taught to worship the git since the early days," Sirius said bitterly without looking at anyone. "Trust me it's not a condition that can't easily be cured…"

**"Yeh don' know what yeh are?" he said finally.**

"I think that's kind of obvious Hagrid…"

**Uncle Vernon suddenly found his voice.**

**"Stop!" he commanded. "Stop right there, sir! I forbid you to tell the**

**boy anything!"**

"Excuse me?" James said quietly but harshly, everyone in the room knew that James was beyond angry when he spoke like this, Sirius even flinched remembering the last time James was that angry. "You forbid it? You have no right to forbid my son from knowing anything! Especially when it is about his true heritage!"

Lily looked like she wanted to say something but kept quiet, letting her emotions speak for her as she wiped away angry tears.

**A braver man than Vernon Dursley would have quailed under the furious**

**look Hagrid now gave him; when Hagrid spoke, his every syllable trembled**

**with rage.**

**"You never told him? Never told him what was in the letter Dumbledore**

**left fer him? I was there! I saw Dumbledore leave it, Dursley! An'**

**you've kept it from him all these years?"**

"Told you they wouldn't listen to a letter," Lily grumbled bitterly

**"Kept what from me?" said Harry eagerly.**

**"STOP! I FORBID YOU!" yelled Uncle Vernon in panic.**

"SOD OFF DURSLEY!" James shouted shaking with rage "No longer will your influence have any control over my son's life," Everyone was too shocked by James' sudden outburst to say anything.

"He'll still most likely have to go back for the summer," Remus whispered after a few minutes.

"Even still," Lily spoke up seeing as James was still shaking in anger "he'll only be there for a few weeks, most of his time will be spent at Hogwarts, where he belongs, away from my horrid sister and her family," It was still a few more minutes before James was able to continue reading.

**Aunt Petunia gave a gasp of horror.**

"Oh no!" Sirius cried in a high pitched voice trying to act all dramatic "my perfect little life will come to an end, what will the neighbours think?" Lily and Remus laughed a bit at the joke while James just scowled; clearly still feeling the anger from his outburst. Peter on the other hand burst out laughing like it was the funniest thing in the world, causing the others to look at him strangely.

**"Ah, go boil yet heads, both of yeh," said Hagrid. "Harry -- yer a**

**wizard."**

"And there it is, the most important phrase you will ever have said to you," Sirius smiled proudly.

"At least he now knows," James said a little stiffly

"But how will he react to the news?" Remus questioned.

"Probably won't believe it," Lily stated calmly "I know I didn't truly believe until McGonagall showed me some real magic,"

"I think that's true for most muggleborns," Remus said nodding slightly.

**There was silence inside the hut. Only the sea and the whistling wind**

**could be heard.**

**"-- a what?" gasped Harry.**

**"A wizard, o' course," said Hagrid, sitting back down on the sofa, which**

**groaned and sank even lower, "an' a thumpin' good'un, I'd say, once**

**yeh've been trained up a bit. With a mum an' dad like yours, what else**

**would yeh be? An' I reckon it's abou' time yeh read yer letter."**

"The letter does help a bit, makes it seem a bit more real and a lot less like a practical joke,"

"You seriously thought it was a joke Evans?"

"Of course I did!" Lily said indignantly "I'd been brought up my whole life to believe that magic only existed in fairy tales,"

"Fairy Tales?" Sirius had a look of confusion written across his face.

"Stories filled with mystical creatures and people, like princes, princesses in distress, dragons and wizards, all of it was make believe, or so I'd been taught," Lily said wistfully "never believed in a million years that some of it would be true,"

**Harry stretched out his hand at last to take the yellowish envelope,**

**addressed in emerald green to Mr. H. Potter, The Floor, Hut-on-the-Rock,**

**The Sea.**

"Even in the middle of nowhere, Dumbledore knows where you are," Sirius smirked triumphantly.

"Am I still the only one here that sees that as kind of creepy? A man his age watching us all the time…" James said uneasily.

"Hold up! I'm going to stop this right here before I find it hard to look Dumbledore in the eye when we meet him for Head Boy and Girl meetings…" Lily said holding her hands up in a staying motion.

**He pulled out the letter and read:**

James rubbed his hands together eagerly as everyone smiled.

**HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY**

**Headmaster: ALBUS DUMBLEDORE**

**(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock, Supreme**

**Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)**

**Dear Mr. Potter,**

**We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.**

**Term begins on September 1. We await your owl by no later than July 31.**

**Yours sincerely,**

**Minerva McGonagall,**

**Deputy Headmistress**

"And there it is, the most important letter you will ever receive," Sirius smiled proudly "my godsons going to Hogwarts," he wiped his eyes pretending to get all misty.

"Sod off Black," Lily threw a pillow at him "you may not even be godfather," she finished with an evil smirk.

"We'll see about that Evans," Sirius said with an evil smirk of his own.

**Questions exploded inside Harry's head like fireworks and he couldn't**

**decide which to ask first. After a few minutes he stammered, "What does**

**it mean, they await my owl?"**

"That's right, Harry's never had a letter sent by owl before," Remus suddenly remembered.

"Yeah in the muggle world they have people owls deliver the letters," Sirius said looking proud at remembering something about the muggle world.

"They're called letter carriers, Black!" Lily snapped sounding exasperated "People owls, of all the things… what are you? 4 years old?" she grumbled to herself.

"Some days 4 years old is an overstatement…" James said wistfully. Sirius pouted.

**"Gallopin' Gorgons, that reminds me," said Hagrid, clapping a hand to**

**his forehead with enough force to knock over a cart horse, and from yet another pocket inside his overcoat he pulled an owl –**

"That poor bird," Lily looked absolutely horrified

"Hope he didn't sit on it too many times," James said looking disgusted.

"Look at it this way James," Sirius tried to reason "if he did, it probably wouldn't be much of an owl anymore," The all shared a disgusted look before carrying on.

**a real, live, rather ruffled-looking owl -- a long quill, and a roll of parchment.**

**With his tongue between his teeth he scribbled a note that Harry could**

**read upside down:**

**Dear Professor Dumbledore,**

**Given Harry his letter.**

**Taking him to buy his things tomorrow.**

**Weather's horrible. Hope you're well.**

**Hagrid**

"Good thing Hagrid's taking him, I'd hate for it to have to be the Dursleys," Lily shuddered.

"I don't know Evans, I think it'd be pretty funny to see your sister and her family in Diagon Alley," Sirius snickered. They all shared a laugh at the thought.

**Hagrid rolled up the note, gave it to the owl, which clamped it in its beak, went to the door, and threw the owl out into the storm. Then he came back and sat down as though this was as normal as talking on the telephone.**

"Well it is," Sirius shrugged.

"Not to Harry it isn't," laughed James, everyone looked at him funny "just imagine what Harry must be thinking at this point," the others joined in on the laughter.

**Harry realized his mouth was open and closed it quickly.**

**"Where was I?" said Hagrid, but at that moment, Uncle Vernon, still**

**ashen-faced but looking very angry, moved into the firelight.**

"Uh oh, Dursleys about to try and have his way again," Sirius said in a bored tone of voice.

"I'd like to see him try," Peter growled.

"I agree with Peter, my son is going to Hogwarts Dursley and there is nothing you can do to stop him," James said with a note of finality in his voice.

**"He's not going," he said.**

**Hagrid grunted.**

**"I'd like ter see a great Muggle like you stop him," he said.**

"Here, here!" Sirius shouted while the others just cheered.

**"A what?" said Harry, interested.**

"A git unworthy of magic," Peter whispered to himself so no one else would hear, he didn't want the others to look at him strangely again. It had become apparent to Peter by reading this book that the others didn't share the same views as him. Remus perked his ears slightly, listening to Peter and making further mental notes about his behaviour.

**"A Muggle," said Hagrid, "it's what we call non-magic folk like them.**

**An' it's your bad luck you grew up in a family o' the biggest Muggles I**

**ever laid eyes on."**

"Bad luck is that what you call it?" Lily narrowed her eyes in anger "Bad judgment is what it's called, bad luck was only part of it!"

"Hey maybe after seeing how bad Harry's been treated Dumbledore will find a new home for him, or he'll be able to stay at Hogwarts during the summer months," Sirius said trying to be optimistic.

"Maybe," Remus said "I mean he did open the doors to students this summer,"

"But that was only after the attack on Platform 9 ¾ and the students returning home for the summer," Lily reasoned "I think it was more because Dumbledore had no choice, because before this year no one has ever been allowed to stay at Hogwarts for the summer,"

"Things might have changed Lil," James said quietly.

"Don't call me Lil Potter."

"Fine, will Mrs Potter do?"

"Arg!!" Lily grunt in exasperation, throwing a pillow at Sirius' head.

**"We swore when we took him in we'd put a stop to that rubbish," said**

**Uncle Vernon, "swore we'd stamp it out of him! Wizard indeed!"**

"Stamp it out of him!?" Lily shrieked "magic is not something you can stamp out of a person, either they are magical or they aren't it's a simple as that!"

"Well apparently the Dursleys thought otherwise," James grumbled bitterly

"Looks like they got proved wrong though," Peter smirked triumphantly

"Yeah but what cost did it have to Harry and his childhood!?" Lily snapped.

**"You knew?" said Harry. "You knew I'm a -- a wizard?"**

**"Knew!" shrieked Aunt Petunia suddenly. "Knew! Of course we knew! How could you not be, my dratted sister being what she was? Oh, she got a letter just like that and disappeared off to that-that school-and came home every vacation with her pockets full of frog spawn, turning teacups into rats. I was the only one who saw her for what she was -- a freak! **

"That's really rich coming from you Petunia," Lily said softly, as tears poured down her face "considering you wanted to come to Hogwarts too, you wanted to be a freak!" she was practically yelling at the end.

James tried to comfort her but was finding it hard since he was shaking in rage himself. "Makes me kind of glad I'm an only child," he smiled in a weak attempt at humour.

"It's not all bad having a sister," Lily laughed lightly while wiping her eyes with the handkerchief James had given her "she was nice when we were kids, and I have to admit it is kind of fun making up pretend spells to scare her with," The others laughed.

"I do have one question though," Sirius asked with a complete straight face "Did you really keep frog spawn in your pockets and turn rats into teacups when you were at home?" They all laughed harder, Lily threw another pillow at Sirius but when no one else was looking gave him a small smile in gratitude which he noted with a nod.

**But for my mother and father, oh no, it was Lily this and Lily that, they were proud of having a witch in the family!"**

"At least your parents are proud," Remus smiled slightly

"Yeah they are," Lily smiled more brightly this time "and they are completely fascinated by our world, constantly want to hear about what I'm doing and how things are going,"

"You miss them don't you," James stated.

"I do, but we all know that it is safer for me to remain here this summer, although I did get a letter from them a few days ago congratulating me on making Head Girl,"

**She stopped to draw a deep breath and then went ranting on. It seemed she had been wanting to say all this for years.**

"Doesn't mean we want to hear it," Peter snapped

"This is exactly why they say you shouldn't keep your emotions locked away, it eats you up and eventually you blow," Everyone just looked at Sirius with a shocked look on their faces.

"What? Why is everyone staring at me like that?"

"Did you just say something insightful?" Lily asked clearly bewildered.

"My head's not completely filled with hot air," he smirked.

"You're right," James smirked "some parts are just missing," Sirius just stuck his tongue out at him.

**"Then she met that Potter at school **

"It was the best day of her life," James smirked arrogantly.

"Clearly," Lily said sarcastically while she rolled her eyes.

**and they left and got married **

"Let me guess the second best day of my life?" Lily asked turning to James.

"Of course, I know it'll be mine," Lily blushed and turned away.

**and had you, and of course I knew you'd be just the same, just as strange, just as -- as -- abnormal – **

"Oi! My son is not abnormal!" James snapped.

"If any kid is abnormal it's yours Petunia," Lily snarled.

"At least Harry isn't a whale," Sirius shrugged.

"That's because he wasn't fed properly," Lily snapped.

"Even still, he's not a fat Mama's boy,"

"Thank Merlin for that," James and Lily said at the same time.

**and then, if you please, she went and got herself blown up and we got landed with you!"**

"Blown up!?" everyone shouted.

"Is…is that how we go?" Lily asked fearfully looking at James, who looked just as unsure.

"She could be exaggerating," Remus quickly stated, trying to sound soothing.

"Even still what a way to go," Sirius said astonished.

"Well if you're going to go, why not go with style," James tried to joke but it fell short.

Lily started to laugh "make sure you write that on our tombstones," they all shared a laugh at that one.

**Harry had gone very white. As soon as he found his voice he said, "Blown up? You told me they died in a car crash!"**

"The muggles lied to you Harry," Peter said disgustedly

"Appearently one in a long line of fallacies in Harry's life" Remus said in an annoyed tone.

"Yeah, there is no way in hell Lily and I would die in a car crash…It's a magical impossibility!" James said bitterly.

"Wait hold up…you're saying you wouldn't mind having something so mugglish as a car?" Lily said slightly surprised.

"Well yeah…I mean their fun to drive and it's not like after we have Harry that we can apparate everywhere… Besides, muggle or not, magic can make them better" James said hesitantly. Lily looked at him like she had never seen him before.

"Potter..just when I think I have you figured out…" She said shacking her head.

"I know I know…" He replied knowingly "I'm a Walking talking enigma"

"Among over things…" Remus said with a smirk

"Oi!"

Everyone chuckled and James shot Lily a small smile.

**"CAR CRASH!" roared Hagrid, jumping up so angrily that the Dursleys scuttled back to their corner. "How could a car crash kill Lily an' James Potter? It's an outrage! A scandal! Harry Potter not knowin' his own story when every kid in our world knows his name!"**

"Oh boy…I can see that causing problems…"

"Oh come on, it can't be that bad, alittle bit of fame isn't so horrible…" Peter sighed.

"I know I'd have a lot of fun if I had fame like Harry is going to have.." Sirius said lounging back against the pillows on his bed in a classic daydreaming position. Lily frowned.

"But can't you see the problems this is going to cause?... He'll be famous for something he can't even remember…Not only that but for something that cost him his family…He'll always have people looking up to him and he'll not know why and that'll make it hard to make friends…"

"Yeah guys I mean look at us… We were complete strangers for the most part before we met here, it gave us all something in common. Harry won't have that…" James said sadly. It provided a sad prospect to the rest of the group.

**"But why? What happened?" Harry asked urgently.**

**The anger faded from Hagrid's face. He looked suddenly anxious.**

"Oh dear...not too sure Hagrid is the best one for this story…" Remus said uneasily.

"Yeah not an easy thing to sit there and tell someone that they're famous because they didn't die when they're family was killed by an evil manic…"

"How would you know have you ever had to do that Padfoot?"

"Don't be an idiot Pete.. It was an observation." Peter scowled slightly.

**"I never expected this," he said, in a low, worried voice. "I had no idea, when Dumbledore told me there might be trouble gettin' hold of yeh—**

Lily and James scowled at this news.

"I'm going to have to have a few words with our esteemed headmaster…" Lily said annoyed. "Leaving my son in that environment…Oh yes there will be words indeed…" She grumbled.

**how much yeh didn't know. Ah, Harry, I don' know if I'm the right person ter tell yeh -- but someone's gotta -- yeh can't go off ter Hogwarts not knowin'."**

"Oh yes that would be slightly embarrassing…" Sirius said lightly only for Lily and James to continue scowling.

**He threw a dirty look at the Dursleys.**

**"Well, it's best yeh know as much as I can tell yeh -- mind, I can't tell yeh everythin', it's a great myst'ry, parts of it..."**

"Sounds like we're going to find out how it happened…" James said uneasily exchanging his scowl for a slightly pale look. Sirius reached over and grabbed James shoulder comfortingly.

"Look at it this way Prongs… the more we know…the more we can try and change it…"

"True as that may be…won't make it any easier to hear…" Lily said unconsciously leaning slightly against James who smiled inperceptively.

"Okay well…here we go.." He took a deep breath and continued reading.

**He sat down, stared into the fire for a few seconds, and then said, "It begins, I suppose, with -- with a person called -- but it's incredible yeh don't know his name, everyone in our world knows --"**

"Except Harry…wonder if Voldemort is his real name," James wondered aloud. At the mention of Voldemort's name Peter shuddered so violently that he nearly fell off his bed.

"Geesh Pete, it's just a name, no need to have a panic attack," Sirius rolled his eyes at Wormtail's behaviour.

**"Who?"**

**"Well -- I don' like sayin' the name if I can help it. No one does."**

"Quite stupid actually, being afraid of a name," Lily scoffed.

"You weren't taught his values were almost sacred Lily," Sirius whispered "that he was to be treated with the utmost of respect and that meant not saying his name,"

"No I wasn't," Lily refused to meet anyone's eyes especially Sirius' "guess I was a little quick to judge…"

"No, you weren't" Sirius said almost harshly looking directly at her as she raised her eyes to met his "it is bloody stupid to be afraid of a name, to treat a man with respect because he wants to kill innocent people who have just as much right to be in this world any anyone else," No one noticed the glare Peter sent Sirius at this comment.

"Sirius, I…"

"I don't want your pity Evans, I don't need that. However, I wouldn't object to some extra warmth at night," Sirius said with a wink and his trademark smirk. Lily just rolled her eyes and threw a pillow at him.

James on the other hand scowled "I really wish you would stop flirting with my future wife,"

"Give it up Prongs, Padfoot will never stop flirting with her, he'll probably be flirting with her on your wedding day,"

"That's if we get married Remus, Potter has yet to give me a good reason as to why I should marry him," Lily said with her own smirk.

"I'll show you Evans," James vowed.

**"Why not?"**

**"Gulpin' gargoyles, Harry, people are still scared. Blimey, this is difficult. See, there was this wizard who went... bad. As bad as you could go. Worse. Worse than worse. His name was..."**

"Moldyshorts," Sirius smiled, everyone burst out laughing.

**Hagrid gulped, but no words came out.**

**"Could you write it down?" Harry suggested.**

**"Nah -can't spell it. All right -- Voldemort. " Hagrid shuddered. **

"There you go, see that wasn't so hard?" Sirius said as if he was talking to a small child.

**"Don' make me say it again. Anyway, this -- this wizard, about twenty years ago now, started lookin' fer followers. Got 'em, too -- some were afraid, some just wanted a bit o' his power, 'cause he was gettin' himself power, all right. Dark days, Harry. Didn't know who ter trust, didn't dare get friendly with strange wizards or witches... terrible things happened. He was takin' over. 'Course, some stood up to him -- an' he killed 'em. Horribly. One o' the only safe places left was Hogwarts. **

"Which is exactly why we are here right now," sighed Peter looking almost bored "We already know all this!"

"Relax Pete, he's got to give Harry a bit of background information or else he'd get confused," Remus stated calmly.

**Reckon Dumbledore's the only one You-Know Who was afraid of. Didn't dare try takin' the school, not jus' then, anyway.**

"No but I reckon he's getting closer to trying," James grumbled. "Bet that attack on the Hogwarts Express was a test, see what Dumbledore would do,"

**"Now, yer mum an' dad were as good a witch an' wizard as I ever knew.**

James and Lily smiled slightly.

**Head boy an' girl at Hogwarts in their day! **

"How Potter became Head Boy in the first place is beyond me," Lily shook her head. "I mean what on earth was Dumbledore thinking?"

"You're not the only one pondering that question Evans," James mumbled.

**Suppose the myst'ry is why You-Know-Who never tried to get 'em on his side before... probably knew they were too close ter Dumbledore ter want anythin' ter do with the Dark Side.**

"So what you are saying is that being close to Dumbledore is both a blessing and a curse?" James asked skeptically.

"Seems so Prongs," Remus mused.

"Guess that must be true for the rest of us too them," Sirius said blankly.

"What makes you say that Padfoot? Nothing was said about any of us,"

"Exactly Moony, nothing is said and yet none of us went to get Harry from the Dursleys meaning that something bad must have happened," Everyone was silent for a few moments all lost in their own thoughts before James cleared his throat and continued.

**"Maybe he thought he could persuade 'em... maybe he just wanted 'em**

**outta the way. All anyone knows is, he turned up in the village where**

**you was all living, on Halloween ten years ago. You was just a year old.**

**He came ter yer house an' -- an' --"**

James stopped reading for a moment, it appeared he was wiping his eyes but no one could really tell due to the angle of his hand and the book in his hand. Only Lily could tell that he had just wiped a couple of tears away because of how close she was sitting to him, but she would never tell. She gently laid her hand on his shoulder in a comforting gesture; James looked up and held her gaze for a moment before clearing his throat and continuing on. While this went on none of the other boys said a thing or looked in the direction that Lily and James were sitting, feeling it was a private moment that they didn't want to invade.

**Hagrid suddenly pulled out a very dirty, spotted handkerchief and blew**

**his nose with a sound like a foghorn.**

**"Sorry," he said. "But it's that sad -- knew yer mum an' dad, an' nicer**

**people yeh couldn't find -- anyway..."**

They all smiled.

**"You-Know-Who killed 'em. An' then -- an' this is the real myst'ry of the thing -- he tried to kill you, too. Wanted ter make a clean job of it, I suppose, or maybe he just liked killin' by then. But he couldn't do it. Never wondered how you got that mark on yer forehead? That was no ordinary cut. That's what yeh get when a Powerful, evil curse touches yeh -- took care of yer mum an' dad an' yer house, even -- but it didn't work on you, an' that's why yer famous, Harry. No one ever lived after he decided ter kill 'em, no one except you, an' he'd killed some o' the best witches an' wizards of the age -- the McKinnons, the Bones, the Prewetts – **

"Merlin, those are some prestigious families he's knocked out," James was clearly shocked by the news.

"We went to school with a lot of those people too," Remus murmured.

"You alright there Wormtail?" Sirius asked looking over at Peter who appeared to be shifting uncomfortably.

"Fine, just want this chapter to be over so we can move on to happier things," The others just nodded while Remus gave Peter a lingering glance.

**an' you was only a baby, an' you lived."**

"Thank Merlin he did," Lily said softly "and always remember that no matter what your mum will always love you,"

"Same goes for your father," James said just as softly looking at Lily who smiled slightly at him.

**Something very painful was going on in Harry's mind. As Hagrid's story came to a close, he saw again the blinding flash of green light, more clearly than he had ever remembered it before -- and he remembered something else, for the first time in his life: a high, cold, cruel laugh.**

Everyone shivered, no one felt the need to speak for they all knew without a doubt who the laugh belonged to.

**Hagrid was watching him sadly.**

**"Took yeh from the ruined house myself, on Dumbledore's orders. Brought**

**yeh ter this lot..."**

"Really wish you hadn't," James grumbled. Sirius looked away guiltily but no one seemed to notice.

"Would still like to know Dumbledore's reason for sending him there,"

"We all would Remus," James sighed

"Maybe we should have a talk with Dumbledore about our wishes regarding Harry should something like this happen,"

"It better not! You two better take precautions against this now that you know about the possible outcome" roared Sirius looking angry.

"Well obviously Sirius, but still should something different happen I want to make sure that any child James and I have does not end up with my sister should something happen to us,"

"Good idea Lils,"

"Lils?"

"Do you not like being called Lils?" James asked nervously.

"It's not that, I just didn't know we were at a nickname stage yet,"

"You can call him Jamsie if you want," Sirius smirked "he just adores that name,"

"No I do not! I hate being called Jamsie, do you remember what happened to the last person who called me Jamsie?"

"I couldn't sit for a week," grumbled Peter. Everyone laughed.

"Very well then," Lily started in a business like tone "you may continue to call me Lils as long as I may call you by a nickname of my choice to be determined later, do we have a deal," Lily put out her hand to shake with James.

"Deal," James shook Lily's hand briefly.

"Great, glad we got that settled, now can we continue?" Peter grumbled sounding very annoyed. James shot him a look but otherwise said nothing since Sirius took it upon himself to smack Peter for him.

**"Load of old tosh," said Uncle Vernon. Harry jumped; he had almost forgotten that the Dursleys were there. Uncle Vernon certainly seemed to have got back his courage. He was glaring at Hagrid and his fists were clenched.**

"Looks like the muggle wants to play," Sirius smirked.

**"Now, you listen here, boy," he snarled, "I accept there's something strange about you, probably nothing a good beating wouldn't have cured -- and as for all this about your parents, well, they were weirdos, no denying it, and the world's better off without them in my opinion -- asked for all they got, getting mixed up with these wizarding types -- just what I expected, always knew they'd come to a sticky end --"**

Throughout this part the group more and more angry. James had to pause a few times to take a breath before continuing on, at the end he glared furiously at the book, Lily could be seen wiping angry tears away, Sirius and Remus were both looking murderous while Peter was smirking evilly as if he'd had something planned. Other than that no one said anything and after a few minutes James continued reading.

**But at that moment, Hagrid leapt from the sofa and drew a battered pink umbrella from inside his coat. Pointing this at Uncle Vernon like a sword, he said, "I'm warning you, Dursley -I'm warning you -- one more word... "**

"Go Hagrid!" the Marauders all cheered while Lily smirked in triumph.

**In danger of being speared on the end of an umbrella by a bearded giant,**

**Uncle Vernon's courage failed again; he flattened himself against the wall and fell silent.**

"Some bully you are, scared of a little pink umbrella," Peter laughed.

"I don't think it's an ordinary umbrella Pete,"

"What do you mean Moony?"

"Think about it Padfoot, earlier on in the chapter Hagrid used magic,"

"So?" Sirius blinked looking very confused.

"Come on Black I'm sure even you've heard the stories about Hagrid being expelled from Hogwarts at a young age,"

"Yeah I have, but what's that got to do with anything?"

"They snap your wand when you're expelled Padfoot," Remus looked Sirius straight in the eye "you're no longer permitted to use magic,"

"Blimey," Sirius whistled "you don't think Hagrid kept the pieces and…"

"Hid them in his pink umbrella, that's exactly what we think Black. Means that Hagrid is using magic illegally, how else would he have lit that fire?"

"But that's that got to do with Dursley cowering away from it, he wouldn't know that…would he?"

"Probably not Wormtail, but he's probably not sure at the same time, for all we know he may think that the pink umbrella is an actual wand," James absently scratched his chin seeming to be pondering the thought.

"It could be," Lily shrugged "it all depends on how much Petunia has told him about the Wizarding World because as much as she hates it she does know a fair bit about our world,"

**"That's better," said Hagrid, breathing heavily and sitting back down on the sofa, which this time sagged right down to the floor. **

**Harry, meanwhile, still had questions to ask, hundreds of them.**

**"But what happened to Vol--, sorry -- I mean, You-Know-Who?"**

"I was hoping Harry would ask that question," Sirius started rubbing his hands together in anticipation while the others sat up straight obviously giving James and the book their full attention to the answer.

**"Good question, Harry. Disappeared. Vanished. Same night he tried ter kill you. Makes yeh even more famous. That's the biggest myst'ry, see... he was gettin' more an' more powerful -- why'd he go?"**

"Because he was defeated," Sirius smiled proudly "Prongslet finished him off,"

"Prongslet?" James raised his eyebrow at this.

"No son of mine is going to be called 'Prongslet'" Lily stated harshly.

"Little Prongs sound better to you Evans?"

"Little Prongs?" James once again raised his eyebrow at the nickname. Lily appeared to be thinking it over for a while "I guess Little Prongs is ok, it's better than 'Prongslet' anyways,"

"It would probably be better to give him his own nickname thought Padfoot," Remus pointed out.

"Hmm, ok I'll work on it then, but until something else has been determined, Harry James Potter I hereby dub thee 'Little Prongs'" Sirius declared as if knighting someone.

**"Some say he died. Codswallop, in my opinion. Dunno if he had enough human left in him to die. Some say he's still out there, bidin' his time, like, but I don' believe it. People who was on his side came back ter ours. **

"Typical," James scoffed "Moldyshorts vanishes and suddenly people are 'good' again,"

"Five Galleons says that Malfoy was one of them," Sirius smirked.

"That's not a good bet to take," Remus reasoned "it seems like the kind of thing Malfoy would do," The others just nodded their agreement.

**Some of 'em came outta kinda trances. Don reckon they could've done if he was comin' back.**

"Hagrid does have a point there," Lily mused. Once again the others nodded their agreement.

**"Most of us reckon he's still out there somewhere but lost his powers. Too weak to carry on. 'Cause somethin' about you finished him, Harry.**

**There was somethin' goin' on that night he hadn't counted on -- I dunno what it was, no one does -- but somethin' about you stumped him, all right."**

There was a pause in reading at this point while everyone pondered what Hagrid had just said. There was no need for words since the same question was on everyone's mind 'What about Harry stumped Voldemort that night?' A few moments later James cleared his throat to signal he was going to continue.

**Hagrid looked at Harry with warmth and respect blazing in his eyes, **

"Uh oh…" whispered Lily.

"Everything alright?" James asked her but all she did was signal for him to keep reading.

**But Harry, instead of feeling pleased and proud, felt quite sure there had been a horrible mistake. **

"Just as I thought, he's not even known about the Wizarding World for a day and already he's feeling uncomfortable, what's he going to do when he gets to Hogwarts, the pressure is going to be intense…" Lily was starting have a panic attack at the thought. James immediately put the book down and tried to reassure her but Lily pushed him away to jump up and start pacing all the while muttering to herself about it being unfair and unjust.

"Lily look at me," Sirius had gotten up and forced her to stop pacing by holding both of her shoulders forcing her to look at him "Harry is going to be fine. He's obviously a tough kid if he's been stuck with the Dursleys all this time. He's just feeling a little insecure about all this, it is a lot to take all at once. Wasn't there ever a time when you doubted yourself and your abilities?"

"Of course I did," Lily breathed "I was so worried that I wouldn't fit in or be as good as the others once I got to Hogwarts, that worry also doubled when I didn't get into the house I wanted…"

"House you wanted?" James asked looking confused.

"Remember who I used to play with Snape when I was a child?" the boys all nodded "he had me convinced that we were going to be in Slytherin together, and since I didn't know anything about the other houses I was extremely disappointed when I was put into Gryffindor instead," The boys all had looks of disgust on their faces.

"You don't still think that being in Gryffindor is a bad thing…do you?" James asked carefully.

"Of course not," Lily answered immediately, "I know better now, but at the time…"

"But still," Sirius spoke up trying to get the conversation back on track "once you got over your initial disappointment…"

"I realized that everything was going to be ok," Lily interrupted "especially once I became the head of the class," Lily smiled and quickly gave Sirius a hug "Thank you Sirius, I now know that Harry will be just fine, but I do have one question,"

"Which is?"

"How did you become so wise?"

"That is one of the many questions of the universe Lily," Remus interrupted smirking "one that will never be answered because we all know the answer would horrify us," Sirius just stuck his tongue out.

**A wizard? Him? How could he possibly be?**

"Well you see when your dad and your mum get together and get married at some point they'll engage in certain activities— Ouch!" Sirius cried as he nursed the fresh lump on his head as Lily stood over him with her fist clenched.

"Say one more word Black... and all that wisdom we just talked about will be lying in gooey puddles on the floor you mark my words. It's bad enough to hear I'm getting married to Potter, I don't even want to think about the implications…" Sirius grinned sheepishly but fell quiet While James appeared to be stuck in a slight daydream before a glare from Lily caused him to hastily turn back to the book, clearing his throat.

**He'd spent his life being clouted by Dudley, and bullied by Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon; if he was really a wizard, why hadn't they been turned into warty toads every time they'd tried to lock him in his cupboard? **

"Because you haven't learned how to yet," Sirius smirked evilly "but you will," the others just laughed.

**If he'd once defeated the greatest sorcerer in the world, how come Dudley had always been able to kick him around like a football?**

"Because there is more to the story then we currently know," Remus reasoned while the others just nodded their agreement.

**"Hagrid," he said quietly, "I think you must have made a mistake. I don't think I can be a wizard."**

"You are," everyone said at once.

**To his surprise, Hagrid chuckled.**

**"Not a wizard, eh? Never made things happen when you was scared or angry?"**

"Yes, we've read about a few of them," James smiled.

**Harry looked into the fire. Now he came to think about it... every odd thing that had ever made his aunt and uncle furious with him had happened when he, Harry, had been upset or angry... chased by Dudley's gang, he had somehow found himself out of their reach... dreading going to school with that ridiculous haircut, he'd managed to make it grow back... and the very last time Dudley had hit him, hadn't he got his revenge, without even realizing he was doing it? Hadn't he set a boa constrictor on him?**

"Yes you did and it was bloody brilliant!" Sirius cheered, the others laughed in remembrance.

**Harry looked back at Hagrid, smiling, and saw that Hagrid was positively**

**beaming at him.**

**"See?" said Hagrid. "Harry Potter, not a wizard -- you wait, you'll be right famous at Hogwarts."**

"For all the wrong reasons," Lily muttered quietly.

"Until he proves himself that is," James added.

**But Uncle Vernon wasn't going to give in without a fight.**

"Stupid muggle, when are you going to realize that you can't stop him?" Peter asked rhetorically.

**"Haven't I told you he's not going?" he hissed. "He's going to Stonewall**

**High and he'll be grateful for it. I've read those letters and he needs all sorts of rubbish -- spell books and wands and --"**

"Dungbombs and Stink Pellets and…" Sirius was checking items off on his fingers, the rest of the Marauders just laughed while Lily huffed loudly.

"Harry doesn't need that rubbish,"

"Course he does, he is the son of a Marauder, it's his moral duty to cause havoc," Sirius stated proudly, the other Marauders cheered happily while Lily just glared at all of them.

**"If he wants ter go, a great Muggle like you won't stop him," growled**

**Hagrid. "Stop Lily an' James Potter' s son goin' ter Hogwarts! Yer mad.**

**His name's been down ever since he was born. He's off ter the finest school of witchcraft and wizardry in the world. Seven years there and he won't know himself. He'll be with youngsters of his own sort, fer a change, an' he'll be under the greatest headmaster Hogwarts ever had**

**Albus Dumbled--"**

**"I AM NOT PAYING FOR SOME CRACKPOT OLD FOOL TO TEACH HIM MAGIC TRICKS!" yelled Uncle Vernon.**

"Hey!" Peter jumped up looking furious as he yelled at the book "don't you be insulting Headmaster Dumbledore, you stupid muggle!"

"Yeah!" Sirius jumped up as well "I mean we know he's a little senile and appears to have a few lingering trust issues but that doesn't mean he can't teach…I wonder if he'd be able to give me some ideas on some gender changing techniques…"

"You are not going to ask Professor Dumbledore how to change Snape into a girl," Remus looked a cross between annoyed and amused.

"Moony's right Padfoot, besides how would turning Snape into a girl make things any better for us?"

"It'd give us something to laugh about Prongs, and it would greatly annoy Snape,"

"Hmm…sounds like you've thought this trough," James nodded in contemplation while Lily rolled her eyes sharing an amused smirk with Remus who smacked his head. At the same time Peter sat down in a huff at being cut off from his angry rant.

**But he had finally gone too far. Hagrid seized his umbrella and whirled**

**it over his head, "NEVER," he thundered, "- INSULT- ALBUS DUMBLEDORE-IN-FRONT- OF- ME!"**

"Looks like justice will be served," Sirius grinned evilly while rubbing his hands together in anticipation.

"Really should have seen something like this coming,"

"Why do you say that Lily?" James looked at her curiously.

"Because Hagrid is very loyal to Dumbledore, I think it's because he let him work as groundskeeper after his expulsion, so obviously he'd try to defend him from these…people,"

"People is such a strong word Evans," Sirius smirked, Lily just grinned evilly.

**He brought the umbrella swishing down through the air to point at Dudley -- there was a flash of violet light, a sound like a firecracker, a sharp squeal, and the next second, Dudley was dancing on the spot with his hands clasped over his fat bottom, howling in pain. When he turned his back on them, Harry saw a curly pig's tail poking through a hole in his trousers.**

Everyone burst out laughing, a few were even wiping tears from their eyes at laughing so hard.

"Looks… like… you were… right… Padfoot, justice… has been… served," James mumbled between laughs.

"I'll have to remember to send some sort of 'thank you' gift to Hagrid for this," Sirius paused his laughter for a moment "and I must say how very fitting it is for the Pig to get a pig's tail," this just caused everyone to laugh even harder, it was several moments before everyone had gotten their laughter under control enough to continue.

**Uncle Vernon roared. Pulling Aunt Petunia and Dudley into the other room, he cast one last terrified look at Hagrid and slammed the door behind them.**

"Must remember to keep that in mind 'If one ever wants to get rid of the Dursleys give the Pig a tail," Sirius noted, this just caused the whole group to break out into laughter again.

**Hagrid looked down at his umbrella and stroked his beard.**

**"Shouldn'ta lost me temper," he said ruefully, **

"You kidding, that was bloody brilliant!" James cheered.

**"but it didn't work anyway. Meant ter turn him into a pig, but I suppose he was so much like a pig anyway there wasn't much left ter do."**

Once again the whole group was rolling around in fits of laughter. Between laughs one could here a few random chants of "here, here" and "spot on," once again it was several moments before the group got their laughter under control.

**He cast a sideways look at Harry under his bushy eyebrows.**

**"Be grateful if yeh didn't mention that ter anyone at Hogwarts," he said. "I'm -- er -- not supposed ter do magic, strictly speakin'. I was allowed ter do a bit ter follow yeh an' get yer letters to yeh an' stuff -- one o' the reasons I was so keen ter take on the job"**

"Well I guess we just figured out the secret to Hagrid's pink umbrella," Remus smiled.

"I always did wonder why he had that thing, it didn't look like it big enough for him to use properly,"

"That's because he wasn't using it properly Padfoot," James said sarcastically, Sirius just stuck his tongue out at him.

**"Why aren't you supposed to do magic?" asked Harry.**

**"Oh, well -- I was at Hogwarts meself but I -- er -- got expelled, ter tell yeh the truth. In me third year. They snapped me wand in half an' everything. But Dumbledore let me stay on as gamekeeper. Great man, Dumbledore."**

"Even if he is a little senile," muttered Lily

"and has a few trust issues," muttered James

**"Why were you expelled?"**

"Looks like we get to find out why Hagrid was expelled," Sirius leaned forward looking greedy.

"Not likely Padfoot, I highly doubt Hagrid is going to tell Harry, especially after just meeting him," Remus reasoned.

**"It's gettin' late and we've got lots ter do tomorrow," said Hagrid loudly. "Gotta get up ter town, get all yer books an' that."**

"See?"

"Ahh boo," Sirius pouted, Remus just rolled his eyes at him.

"I wonder if we'll ever find out why Hagrid was expelled," Peter questioned.

"I hope so," Sirius said with a far away look in his eyes "how knows, maybe Harry will uncover the truth,"

"Maybe," the others murmured.

**He took off his thick black coat and threw it to Harry.**

**"You can kip under that," he said. "Don' mind if it wriggles a bit, I think I still got a couple o' dormice in one o' the pockets."**

"You gave my son a coat to sleep under that has mice in the pockets!?" Lily asked shirly.

"Relax Lily he'll be fine, besides it's the thought that counts," James tried to reassure her.

"It's more than the Dursleys ever gave him," Sirius bluntly pointed out.

"I guess," She sheepishly looked at her shoes to avoid eye contact.

"If you're that unsure why don't we find out if he's alright, so who's going to read next?"


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: unfortunately Harry Potter does not belong to us, if he did we would rich that honor belongs to J. only.

A/N: Sorry for the delay, real life unfortunately had to get in the way of our writing. but without further adieu we present Chapter 5!

* * *

"I do believe it is your turn to read Lily," James passed the book over to Lily who took no time in starting the chapter.

**CHAPTER FIVE**

**DIAGON ALLEY**

"Harry's first outing into the Wizarding World," Sirius pretended to wipe a tear from his eye "I'm just so proud," he continued in a fake tearful voice. The other Marauders could be seen smirking or snorting with laughter, Remus was shaking his head while Lily threw a pillow at him with a roll of her eyes.

"Shut up you git," Lily huffed before continuing.

**Harry woke early the next morning. Although he could tell it was daylight, he kept his eyes shut tight.**

"Probably thinks he's dreaming," Peter mumbled offhandedly. The others nodded in agreement.

**"It was a dream," he told himself firmly. "I dreamed a giant called Hagrid came to tell me I was going to a school for wizards. When I open my eyes I'll be at home in my cupboard."**

"Five Galleons says it's not," Sirius smiled mischievously.

"Don't take the bet Harry!" yelled James "it's a trick, he's only betting because he knows he'll win!"

"Don't tell him that James, now he'll never trust me, at least not enough to take a bet with me,"

"You should be ashamed of yourself, trying to weasel money out of a child!" Lily cried indignantly.

"You lot do realize it's a book and that Harry can't hear you right?" Remus gave the three of them a funny look. Lily just smiled at him while James and Sirius chuckled nervously.

"Of course Moony," James mumbled

"Yeah Moony, what kind of idiots do you take us for?"

"Do you really want me to answer that Padfoot?" Remus smirked while James, Peter and Lily burst out laughing. Sirius maturely responded by sticking out his tongue.

**There was suddenly a loud tapping noise.**

"That would be an owl," Peter said smartly.

"Thank you captain obvious!" smirked Lily while the boys all looked at her like she'd grown a second head "It's a muggle saying," there was a general nodding of understanding while Peter just scowled at Lily.

**And there's Aunt Petunia knocking on the door, Harry thought, his heart sinking. But he still didn't open his eyes. It had been such a good dream.**

"They usually are I remember this one time I was dreaming about Evans wearing this cute little bikini…." Sirius trialed off looking horrified at everyone in the room. Lily was looking disturbed; James was looking murderous while Remus and Peter were trying very hard to contain their laughter.

"Are you telling me, that you dream about Lily Evans, my future wife and the girl I've been crazy about for a long time wearing very little clothing?" James looked on the brink of losing his cool, this just made Remus and Peter laugh even harder, even Lily could be seen with a slightly amused smirk on her face.

"Err…well you see…that is you have to admit Prongs your future wife is hot," James nodded his agreement causing Lily to blush slightly "And…uh…well it's not like anything is going on between us or ever will for that matter but….uh….I am a teenage boy and…"

"Say no more Sirius," Lily smiled "I understand perfectly,"

"You do," James looked completely flabbergasted.

"I do, and it is nice to know that should James not perform properly that there is someone else out there who will," At this both Peter and Remus gave in to their laughter and were rolling around on the floor, Sirius while looking slightly shocked had a bemused grin on his face, while James continued to look flabbergasted all the while opening and closing his mouth trying to make a sound. "Well it's not like you've given me any proof as to why I should be with you to begin with," Lily stated calmly and innocently.

"That's because you haven't given me a proper chance to perform," James grinned at her. Lily just rolled her eyes but if one looked closely they could see a slight blush on her cheeks.

**Tap. Tap. Tap.**

**"All right," Harry mumbled, "I'm getting up."**

"Surprise!" Sirius cheered loudly "it wasn't a dream," the other Marauders just rolled their eyes at him while Lily looked at him like he was deranged.

"Trust me, he is" Remus whispered to her quietly.

"I heard that Moony!"

**He sat up and Hagrid's heavy coat fell off him.**

"And yet again Harry is under someone's cloak…kind of gets around doesn't he?" Sirius smirked. Lily gaped, flabbergasted as she sputter indignantly.

"Well he is a Potter…" Remus said innocently

"Remus! That's my son you're talking about!" Lily fumed looking to James for support.

"Hey! I'll have you know we Potters are not that easy!" Lily gave him a look of approval and had just turned to yell at the others when James beat her to it.

"...You have to buy us dinner first." James said playing along and smirking when Lily looks at him in shock.

"You should be happy Lily." Peter said innocently. Lily turned to him with a glare.

"And why pre tell should this conversation make me happy?"

"Cause then you know at least, James is a cheap date."

"Hey!"

"That's it! When Harry is born none of you or your cloaks are going anywhere near him, I'll not have you and your minds corrupting my son!" Lily stated firmly.

"Aww come on Lily, our cloaks could help make a man out him" Sirius said grinning. Lily calmly got to her feet then faster then the boys could react she had cuffed them all upside the head, making sure to hit both James and Sirius twice for good measure before calmly sitting down and picking up the book.

**  
The hut was full of sunlight, the storm was over, Hagrid himself was asleep on the collapsed sofa, and there was an owl rapping its claw on the window, a newspaper held in its beak.**

"Excellent, we'll get to hear some real news about what's going on at that time," Remus smiled happily, he had always been one to keep up with current events.

"I suppose the events in that paper will be different than what's in our paper,"

"You think Wormtail, I don't know what would make you think that," Sirius said sarcastically as he rolled his eyes at Peter. Peter just shot Sirius a look.

**Harry scrambled to his feet, so happy he felt as though a large balloon was swelling inside him. **

Lily and James exchanged a small sad smile.

**He went straight to the window and jerked it open. The owl swooped in and dropped the newspaper on top of Hagrid, who didn't wake up. The owl then fluttered onto the floor and began to attack Hagrid's coat.**

**"Don't do that."**

"Pay me, pay me," Sirius squeeked in a high pitched voice. Lily giggled a bit while the other Marauders just shook their heads in mild amusement.

**Harry tried to wave the owl out of the way, but it snapped its beak fiercely at him and carried on savaging the coat.**

"Looks like this owl has a bit of a temper," Peter quivered slightly

"I'd be annoyed too if you were to swat me away while I was looking for money,"

"You were only swatted away Padfoot because it was my cloak you were searching for money in, and the money in there was mine," Remus glared.

"I was only borrowing it Moony, I had every intention of paying you back," Sirius pouted.

"You still haven't paid me back for the money you borrowed in first year!"

"Yeah….about that Prongs…" Sirius chuckled nervously.

"How about you lot finish this 'discussion' later and let me continue reading about Harry?" Lily glared, the boys all looked away sheepishly.

**"Hagrid!" said Harry loudly. "There's an owl"**

**"Pay him," Hagrid grunted into the sofa.**

**"What?"**

"It means give him money," Peter said slowly as if talking to a small child. James reached over and punched him while Lily just glared.

"He knows how to pay someone Peter," she said coldly "just because he grew up in the muggle world doesn't mean he does not know the basic facts of life,"

"And who exactly told him about the 'facts of life'?" Sirius wriggled his eyebrows suggestively. The other Marauders were trying hard to contain their laughter.

"I do believe that it is your job to have the 'Talk' with Harry since you are his godfather," Lily said smugly.

"Me? You wanted me to talk to him?" Sirius stuttered as the implications of what Lily said sunk in.

"Merlin help him," James muttered "my family's doomed," Sirius glared at James

"Surely Remus would be better suited for something like this,"

"No way Padfoot, you wanted to be made godfather and you got it, now it's your responsibility,"

"Don't use big words he won't understand Remus," Lily smirked. Sirius scowled.

"If you're that concerned maybe I'll get Pete to do it,"

"Hey!" Peter yelped indignantly.

"Your family would really be doomed then Prongs," Sirius smirked.

"What do you mean by that Sirius?"

"Take it however you want Wormtail, however you want," The group all dissolved into laughter while Peter just glared at them.

**"He wants payin' fer deliverin' the paper. Look in the pockets."**

**Hagrid's coat seemed to be made of nothing but pockets -- bunches of keys, slug pellets, balls of string, peppermint humbugs, teabags...**

"An just think that's only in the pockets you can find, there could be all sorts of things Hagrid doesn't want you to see…" Sirius Said with a cheshire grin.

"Arg! Sirius Get your mind of the gutter!"

"Yeah Black! I don't need that mental image!"

" I was meaning illegal things but take things how you want you sick sick people!" Sirius chuckled.

**finally, Harry pulled out a handful of strange-looking coins.**

"Muggle money is stranger than ours, what value could possibly be in a piece of paper,"

"Those 'pieces of paper' are worth more than most of your coins Pettigrew,"

**"Give him five Knuts," said Hagrid sleepily.**

"Five!? I only pay 3 for my paper in the morning!"

"I'm sure they had a good reason for raising the price Remus," Lily reasoned

"Yeah maybe they got some new top notch reporter writing for them now," Sirius shrugged.

**"Knuts?"**

**"The little bronze ones."**

**Harry counted out five little bronze coins, and the owl held out his leg so Harry could put the money into a small leather pouch tied to it. Then he flew off through the open window.**

"Harry's first encounter with an owl," Sirius wiped a fake tear from his eye.

"Are you going to do that everytime Harry has a first Black?"

"Nah, when Harry gets laid for the first time I plan on patting him on the back,"

"You did walk right into that one Lily," James smirked at her.

"Yes saddly I did, I forgot how Sirius' brain can sometimes mistake which head it's supposed to be thinking with," Lily grinned evilly. The other Marauders keeled over in laughter while Sirius sat there looking a cross between scandalized and shocked.

"Yeah well you know what they say, two heads are better than one," Sirius smugly replied.

"Yes well it's an easy mistake to make, after all in your case, one is far too small to be of much use…" There was loud laughter coming from the rest of the boys to match Lily's smug grin. Sirius just scowled at all of them.

**Hagrid yawned loudly, sat up, and stretched.**

**"Best be Off, Harry, lots ter do today, gotta get up ter London an' buy all yer stuff fer school."**

**Harry was turning over the wizard coins and looking at them. He had just thought of something that made him feel as though the happy balloon inside him had got a puncture.**

"What's he on about Moony?" Sirius whispered.

"Shut up and you'll find out Padfoot,"

**"Um -- Hagrid?"**

**"Mm?" said Hagrid, who was pulling on his huge boots.**

**"I haven't got any money -- and you heard Uncle Vernon last night ... he won't pay for me to go and learn magic."**

"Pff like that's a problem," scoffed James "No Potter has ever had to worry about money in the few hundred years or so,"

"I know what you mean Prongs, used to be the same for me until I got disinherited," Sirius shrugged slightly "not that I care, don't want that filthy Black money anyways,"

"That's great for you two but it's not like that for everyone and it's obviously not the case for Harry," Lily snapped.

"You think I'd leave my son with nothing Evans?" James narrowed his eyes at her.

"I didn't say that Potter," Lily matched his glare "but do you really think that Harry knows about all the money he's been left,"

"How could he not know?" Peter asked stupidly.

"Don't get involved," hissed Remus while Sirius shook his head at Wormtail's stupidity.

"How could he not know?" Lily shrieked "I wonder, maybe because he grew up in the muggle world,"

"Just because he grew up in the muggle world doesn't mean that he'll be ignorant to his inheritance," bit back James.

"I never said he would be ignorant to his inheritance, but who would of told him about his inheritance if he didn't even know the Wizarding World existed?" Lily looked around for an answer, when none came she continued "and another thing do you really think that my sister and her good for nothing husband would of blissfully ignored the fact that their 'good for nothing nephew' had a small fortune buried deep underground,"

"They wouldn't be able to touch it, they'd need a Potter to access it,"

"And you think they wouldn't of used Harry to get to that money!?"

"…"

"Exactly… It's bad enough that they have treated him horribly for years, but trust me when I say that I know my sister well enough to know that she would drain Harry's accounts as quick as she could, wizarding money or not."

"Are you done?" Sirius asked looking at the couple "because that was one hell of a marital spat," James and Lily both glared at him. Remus rolled his eyes and motioned for Lily to keep reading.

**"Don't worry about that," said Hagrid, standing up and scratching his head. "D'yeh think yer parents didn't leave yeh anything?"**

"See? Told you," James smirked arrogantly, Lily just glared.

**"But if their house was destroyed --"**

"Muggles," Peter rolled his eyes "only they would have a stupid idea like that,"

"For your information Pettigrew, muggles have their own banks just like wizards," Lily spat.

"Besides Pete, The idea isn't all that strange, My dear old mum, she kept a small fortune hidden in the wine cellar at Grimmauld Place…" Sirius added helpfully. Lily smiled triumphantly and Peter scowled.

"Well it's still a stupid idea…" Peter muttered, leaning back against the pillows he was resting on.

**"They didn' keep their gold in the house, boy! Nah, first stop fer us is Gringotts. Wizards' bank. Have a sausage, they're not bad cold -- an' I wouldn' say no teh a bit o' yer birthday cake, neither."**

"Please for the love of merlin, don't eat the cake! I don't need my family line dying out just yet."

**"Wizards have banks?"**

**"Just the one. Gringotts. Run by goblins."**

**Harry dropped the bit of sausage he was holding.**

**"Goblins?"**

**"Yeah -- so yeh'd be mad ter try an' rob it, I'll tell yeh that. Never mess with goblins, Harry. Gringotts is the safest place in the world fer anything yeh want ter keep safe -- 'cept maybe Hogwarts. As a matter o' fact, I gotta visit Gringotts anyway. Fer Dumbledore. Hogwarts business." Hagrid drew himself up proudly. "He usually gets me ter do important stuff fer him. Fetchin' you gettin' things from Gringotts -- knows he can trust me, see.**

"That's because he's a senile old git," James stated matter of factly

"Albeit a great senile old git," Remus chimed in.

"But one all the same" Sirius confirmed.

"You lot have spent way too much time together," Lily shook her head, the three boys just grinned at her.

**"Got everythin'? Come on, then."**

**Harry followed Hagrid out onto the rock. The sky was quite clear now and the sea gleamed in the sunlight. The boat Uncle Vernon had hired was still there, with a lot of water in the bottom after the storm.**

**"How did you get here?" Harry asked, looking around for another boat.**

**"Flew," said Hagrid.**

"Wonder if he still has my bike," Sirius pondered.

"How else would he have flown? I doubt they make a broom big enough for him," Peter stated.

"But where would he have stashed the bike if that was the case?" Lily questioned "That island doesn't sound very big, and it would look suspicious if a motorbike suddenly appeared on it,"

"Maybe it's in his cloak?" Sirius said innocently "that would make for one hell of a ride," the boys snorted with silent laughter as Lily calmly reached over and cuffed Sirius on the side of the head.

"Oww! Keep that up and I'll end up with brain damage," Sirius massaged his sore head.

"You need to have a brain first,"

"Oi!"

**"Flew?"**

**"Yeah -- but we'll go back in this. Not s'pposed ter use magic now I've got yeh."**

"Five Galleons says that he uses magic at the next available moment," Sirius turned to Peter with his hand out.

"You're on," Peter agreed eagerly while the other Marauders shook their heads in dismay.

**They settled down in the boat, Harry still staring at Hagrid, trying to imagine him flying.**

"It's hard to picture," Sirius scrunched up his face in thought.

"Ahh so that's what you look like when you're thinking, does it hurt?"

"What is this, 'Pick on Sirius' day?"

"Yup, didn't you get the owl?" Remus smiled.

"About time they changed it, it's been 'Pick on Peter' day for three years now,"

"Don't think we've forgotten about you Pete," James smiled. Peter just pouted.

**"Seems a shame ter row, though," said Hagrid, giving Harry another of his sideways looks. "If I was ter -- er -- speed things up a bit, would yeh mind not mentionin' it at Hogwarts?"**

"Ha! Pay up Wormtail!" Sirius extended his hand out to collect, Peter grumbled but reached into his trunk and pulled out five Galleons to give to his friend.

"Pleasure doing business with you once again Pete," Sirius grinned.

"Why is it that I never win a bet with you?"

"Because Sirius will only bet on a sure thing Pete, you should know that by now," Remus stared pointedly.

"Don't tell him that Moony, I'll start losing my main source of income,"

"I don't think you'll have to worry about that Padfoot, Moony tells him this everytime,"

"And he keeps coming back for more, because honestly who wouldn't want more of this?"

"I can name a few people," Lily smirked.

"Ouch Evans, that hurt,"

**"Of course not," said Harry, eager to see more magic. Hagrid pulled out the pink umbrella again, tapped it twice on the side of the boat, and they sped off toward land.**

"And they conveniently stranded the Dursleys on that island, hey maybe they'll have to resort to killing each other for food," Sirius grinned evilly.

"Five Galleons says that Dudley goes first," Peter said energetically.

"Nice try Wormtail, but nobody is stupid enough to take that bet," Remus stated kindly, Peter just pouted.

**"Why would you be mad to try and rob Gringotts?" Harry asked.**

"Oh you know they've only got various spells, and animals like dragons guarding…"

"There is no dragon guarding the vaults at Gringotts Black," Lily stated.

"Yes there is," James jumped in "it guards the high security vaults, my family owns one,"

"As does mine," Sirius stated "they needed somewhere to hide all their 'valuable' dark artifacts, well the ones that the ministry are looking for anyways,"

**"Spells -- enchantments," said Hagrid, unfolding his newspaper as he spoke. "They say there's dragons guardin' the highsecurity vaults. And then yeh gotta find yer way -- Gringotts is hundreds of miles under London, see. Deep under the Underground. Yeh'd die of hunger tryin' ter get out, even if yeh did manage ter get yer hands on summat."**

"Hagrid's got a point, you'd have to be pretty mental to try and rob Gringotts,"

"For once I agree with you Black, I mean you're pretty mad yourself and even you won't attempt to rob them,"

"I think that was a compliment Evans but I'm really not sure,"

"Trust me mate, it was, the closest thing I got to a compliment from Evans was that I'm not a Death Eater,"

**Harry sat and thought about this while Hagrid read his newspaper, the Daily Prophet. Harry had learned from Uncle Vernon that people liked to be left alone while they did this, but it was very difficult, he'd never had so many questions in his life.**

"Not everyone is like him," Lily scowled.

"Thank Merlin for that," James sighed.

**"Ministry o' Magic messin' things up as usual," Hagrid muttered, turning the page.**

"Messing things up?" James asked clearly taken back "how could they be messing things up, they aren't even in a time of war!"

"Maybe that's the problem," Remus reasoned "since it's a peaceful time they've let it all go to hell,"

"Not if the officials I know have anything to say about it, they would be appalled to know that it would all go to hell in a few years time,"

"You know Ministry officials?" Lily asked curiously.

"Course I do, my father's on the Wizangamot, he wanted me to have an understanding on how things worked because some day it'll be me sitting in the Potter seat,"

"What do you mean the Potter seat?"

"Old wizarding families are all given seats to be held by the heir, but not all family's choose to use it,"

"As was the place with my family's seat, they have one but choose not to use it," Sirius sighed.

"That's because they are against everything the Wizangamot stands for Padfoot,"

"Right you are Prongs,"

**"There's a Ministry of Magic?" Harry asked, before he could stop himself.**

**"'Course," said Hagrid. "They wanted Dumbledore fer Minister, 0 'course, but he'd never leave Hogwarts, so old Cornelius Fudge got the job. **

"Wait hold on, did you just say Fudge? As in that slimy slytherin idiot two year above us?" James blurted.

"Apparently"

"Well no wonder the Ministry is going to hell, they gave the Minister job to a bumbling, blabbering Slytherin buffoon," James shook his head in disbelief "Wormtail would be better suited for the job than Fudge,"

"Hey!"

**Bungler if ever there was one. **

"No kidding," groaned James "it's a wonder you still have a Ministry with him in charge,"

**So he pelts Dumbledore with owls every morning, askin' fer advice."**

**"But what does a Ministry of Magic do?"**

"With him in charge, probably not much," Sirius quipped.

**"Well, their main job is to keep it from the Muggles that there's still witches an' wizards up an' down the country."**

**"Why?"**

"So they leave us the bloody hell alone, that's why"

"No need to curse Pettigrew," Peter just shot her a look.

**"Why? Blimey, Harry, everyone'd be wantin' magic solutions to their problems. Nah, we're best left alone."**

**At this moment the boat bumped gently into the harbor wall. Hagrid folded up his newspaper, and they clambered up the stone steps onto the street.**

**Passersby stared a lot at Hagrid as they walked through the little town to the station. **

"You mean your aren't used to seeing a 12 foot man walking down the street with a 5 foot shrimp?" Sirius muttered sarcastically.

"Hey! Watch who you call a shrimp, my son is not a shrimp!"

"He's right Padfoot, if he's anything like Prongs was back in first year 'shrimp' is an over statement," Remus grinned smugly. James responded by maturely sticking out his tongue.

**Harry couldn't blame them. Not only was Hagrid twice as tall as anyone else, he kept pointing at perfectly ordinary things like parking meters and saying loudly, "See that, Harry? Things these Muggles dream up, eh?"**

"Oh Hagrid," Lily groaned while the boys just chuckled silently.

**"Hagrid," said Harry, panting a bit as he ran to keep up, "did you say there are dragons at Gringotts?"**

**"Well, so they say," said Hagrid. "Crikey, I'd like a dragon."**

"Bloody hell, could you imagine if Hagrid actually got his hands on a dragon?" Peter looked a little feint at the idea.

"Bye bye Hogwarts," Sirius muttered.

**"You'd like one?"**

**"Wanted one ever since I was a kid -- here we go."**

**They had reached the station. There was a train to London in five minutes' time. Hagrid, who didn't understand "Muggle money," as he called it, gave the bills to Harry so he could buy their tickets.**

**People stared more than ever on the train. Hagrid took up two seats and sat knitting what looked like a canary-yellow circus tent.**

"Hagrid knits?" Peter blinked.

"Apparently, and it seems he still likes strange colours, you remember the brown suit?" they all groaned.

**"Still got yer letter, Harry?" he asked as he counted stitches. Harry took the parchment envelope out of his pocket.**

**"Good," said Hagrid. "There's a list there of everything yeh need."**

**Harry unfolded a second piece of paper he hadn't noticed the night before, and read:**

**HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY**

**UNIFORM**

**First-year students will require:**

**1. Three sets of plain work robes (black)**

**2. One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear**

**3. One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)**

**4. One winter cloak (black, silver fastenings)**

Sirius went to make a comment but a glare from Lily shut him up quickly.

**Please note that all pupils' clothes should carry name tags**

**COURSE BOOKS**

**All students should have a copy of each of the following:**

**The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1) by Miranda Goshawk**

**A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot**

**Magical Theory by Adalbert Waffling**

**A Beginners' Guide to Transfiguration by Emetic Switch**

**One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi by Phyllida Spore**

**Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger**

**Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander**

**The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection by Quentin Trimble**

**OTHER EQUIPMENT**

**1 wand **

**1 cauldron (pewter, standard size 2) **

**1 set glass or crystal phials**

**1 telescope **

**1 set brass scales**

**Students may also bring an owl OR a cat OR a toad**

**PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED**

**THEIR OWN BROOMSTICKS**

"Damn, they still haven't changed that rule yet," James muttered dejectedly.

"With good reason, many of these students haven't learned to fly yet, our son included,"

"He won't need to learn, he'll just know," James smiled arrogantly "we Potter's are born to fly," Lily just rolled her eyes.

**"Can we buy all this in London?" Harry wondered aloud.**

**"If yeh know where to go," said Hagrid.**

**Harry had never been to London before. **

James and Lily scowled at this.

**Although Hagrid seemed to know where he was going, he was obviously not used to getting there in an ordinary way. He got stuck in the ticket barrier on the Underground, and complained loudly that the seats were too small and the trains too slow.**

**"I don't know how the Muggles manage without magic," he said as they climbed a broken-down escalator that led up to a bustling road lined with shops.**

"They handle very well, just takes them a little longer to get from one place to another,"

"Where's the fun in that?" Sirius grinned "why go slow when you can go fast,"

"Says the guy with the modified motorbike,"

"the key word there is modified Moony," Sirius grinned even more, Lily and Remus just rolled their eyes at him.

**Hagrid was so huge that he parted the crowd easily; all Harry had to do was keep close behind him. They passed book shops and music stores, hamburger restaurants and cinemas, but nowhere that looked as if it could sell you a magic wand. This was just an ordinary street full of ordinary people. Could there really be piles of wizard gold buried miles beneath them? Were there really shops that sold spell books and broomsticks? Might this not all be some huge joke that the Dursleys had cooked up? If Harry hadn't known that the Dursleys had no sense of humor, he might have thought so; yet somehow, even though everything Hagrid had told him so far was unbelievable, Harry couldn't help trusting him.**

**"This is it," said Hagrid, coming to a halt, "the Leaky Cauldron. It's a famous place."**

"Finally, I thought they'd never get there," Sirius replied eagerly. Lily ignored him and continued to read just as excited as everyone else for Harry's first encounter in the magic world.

**It was a tiny, grubby-looking pub. If Hagrid hadn't pointed it out, Harry wouldn't have noticed it was there. The people hurrying by didn't glance at it. Their eyes slid from the big book shop on one side to the record shop on the other as if they couldn't see the Leaky Cauldron at all. In fact, Harry had the most peculiar feeling that only he and Hagrid could see it. Before he could mention this, Hagrid had steered him inside.**

"That's because you have to be magical to see it," grinned Peter.

"Muggle repulsion charms, such a wonderful thing," smirked Sirius.

"For you maybe, try steering your muggle parents into a building that they can't see?" grumbled Lily. "complete and utter disaster,"

**For a famous place, it was very dark and shabby. A few old women were sitting in a corner, drinking tiny glasses of sherry. One of them was smoking a long pipe. A little man in a top hat was talking to the old bartender, who was quite bald and looked like a toothless walnut. The low buzz of chatter stopped when they walked in. Everyone seemed to know Hagrid; they waved and smiled at him, and the bartender reached for a glass, saying, "The usual, Hagrid?"**

"Hagrid, you will not be drinking while you are with my son!" Lily shrieked.

"Wanna bet?" Sirius turned to Lily with a grin "2 Galleons says he has a drink before leaving Diagon Alley," Lily looked at Sirius before grinning herself.

"Alright but let's make this more interesting, 3 Galleons says he has a drink after leaving Gringotts," Sirius seemed to debate this for a few moments before readily agreeing.

"You're on," they shook hands while the others watched in amusement.

"Careful Padfoot, you may have met your match," James smirked.

**"Can't, Tom, I'm on Hogwarts business," said Hagrid, clapping his great hand on Harry's shoulder and making Harry's knees buckle. **

**"Good Lord," said the bartender, peering at Harry, "is this -- can this be --?"**

"Uh oh,"

**The Leaky Cauldron had suddenly gone completely still and silent.**

**"Bless my soul," whispered the old bartender, "Harry Potter... what an honor."**

"Huh? What's going on?" Peter asked confused.

"Harry's famous in our world remember?"

"That's all fine and dandy Moony but Harry's been out of the Wizarding World for the last 10 years," Sirius said somberly.

"It must be the scar," Lily said quietly "how else would they know it was him,"

"I knew Harry'd be famous and all that but I never thought he'd be this famous," James was shaking his head slowly as if trying to make sense of all this.

**He hurried out from behind the bar, rushed toward Harry and seized his hand, tears in his eyes.**

**"Welcome back, Mr. Potter, welcome back."**

James and Lily smiled albeit a little sadly.

"At least it's a warm reception," Remus smiled at the couple in reassurance.

**Harry didn't know what to say. Everyone was looking at him. The old woman with the pipe was puffing on it without realizing it had gone out. Hagrid was beaming.**

**Then there was a great scraping of chairs and the next moment, Harry found himself shaking hands with everyone in the Leaky Cauldron.**

"That's only slightly intimidating for an 11 year old," Remus muttered.

"Back up people, give him some space," Sirius starting moving his arms around like he was trying to direct traffic.

"You better not let these people maul my son Hagrid!"

"Relax Lily, he'll be fine," James smiled "and calm down Padfoot, you're going to take somebody's eye out," Sirius had been moving his arms around the whole time. At the comment to stop he slouched down and pouted.

**"Doris Crockford, Mr. Potter, can't believe I'm meeting you at last."**

**"So proud, Mr. Potter, I'm just so proud."**

**"Always wanted to shake your hand -- I'm all of a flutter."**

**"Delighted, Mr. Potter, just can't tell you, Diggle's the name, Dedalus Diggle."**

**"I've seen you before!" said Harry, as Dedalus Diggle's top hat fell off in his excitement. "You bowed to me once in a shop."**

"Looks like the magical world was keeping a closer eye on Harry than we thought," Peter smiled.

"Either that or Harry's got himself a stalker," Sirius grinned.

**"He remembers!" cried Dedalus Diggle, looking around at everyone. "Did you hear that? He remembers me!" Harry shook hands again and again -- Doris Crockford kept coming back for more.**

"I can see this causing big problems in the future,"

"Why do you say that Lily?"

"Don't you see James, he'll never be able to go anywhere in the Wizarding World with being recognized, people will always want to stop and talk to him, his every move will be front page news of Witch Weekly,"

"Harry's going to have more girls after him than you and I do Prongs,"

"Like father like son, right Padfoot?"

"I'm glad you two are taking this so seriously," Lily glared.

"Give it up Lily, these two will never take anything seriously, I've been trying for years," Remus reached over and patted her on the shoulder.

**A pale young man made his way forward, very nervously. One of his eyes was twitching.**

**"Professor Quirrell!" said Hagrid. "Harry, Professor Quirrell will be one of your teachers at Hogwarts."**

"Quirrell? Isn't he that fifth year bloke? They made that idiot a teacher?"

"Come on now, he is a Ravenclaw so he's not a complete idiot,"

"So what? Some parts are missing?" Sirius looked at Lily for rebuttal but she chose to ignore him.

**"P-P-Potter," stammered Professor Quirrell, grasping Harry's hand, "c-can't t-tell you how p- pleased I am to meet you."**

"Looks like there are some parts missing," Sirius grinned.

"I don't remember him stuttering at the last prefects meeting,"

"I don't remembering him being at the prefect meeting," James looked over at Lily

"That's because you fell asleep," she deadpanned.

**"What sort of magic do you teach, Professor Quirrell?"**

**"D-Defense Against the D-D-Dark Arts," muttered Professor Quirrell, as though he'd rather not think about it. "N-not that you n-need it, eh, P-P-Potter?" He laughed nervously. "You'll be g-getting all your equipment, I suppose? I've g-got to p-pick up a new b-book on vampires, m-myself." He looked terrified at the very thought.**

"That is definitely not the bloke that we know right now, wonder what happened?" Remus pondered while the others just shrugged.

**But the others wouldn't let Professor Quirrell keep Harry to himself. It took almost ten minutes to get away from them all. At last, Hagrid managed to make himself heard over the babble.**

**"Must get on -- lots ter buy. Come on, Harry."**

**Doris Crockford shook Harry's hand one last time, and Hagrid led them through the bar and out into a small, walled courtyard, where there was nothing but a trash can and a few weeds.**

"Great first impression of the magical world," Peter rolled his eyes.

**Hagrid grinned at Harry.**

**"Told yeh, didn't I? Told yeh you was famous. Even Professor Quirrell was tremblin' ter meet yeh -- mind you, he's usually tremblin'."**

**"Is he always that nervous?"**

**"Oh, yeah. Poor bloke. Brilliant mind. He was fine while he was studyin' outta books but then he took a year off ter get some firsthand experience.... They say he met vampires in the Black Forest, and there was a nasty bit o' trouble with a hag – **

"Ah, well that would do it," Sirius nodded "that kind of trouble would be enough to make anyone tremble,"

"Afraid of vampire's there Padfoot?"

"I'm not afraid of them Moony, I just don't like them, it's the whole undead thing,"

**never been the same since. Scared of the students, scared of his own subject now, where's me umbrella?"**

"There's a change of subject if you've ever heard one," James muttered sarcastically "not exactly something one would hear in everyday conversation," the others just nodded.

**Vampires? Hags? Harry's head was swimming. Hagrid, meanwhile, was counting bricks in the wall above the trash can.**

**"Three up... two across he muttered. "Right, stand back, Harry."**

**He tapped the wall three times with the point of his umbrella.**

"Woot! Welcome to Diagon Alley," Sirius cheered.

"I remember the first time I saw that archway open up, I'll never forget it," Lily smiled fondly.

**The brick he had touched quivered -- it wriggled -- in the middle, a small hole appeared -- it grew wider and wider -- a second later they were facing an archway large enough even for Hagrid, an archway onto a cobbled street that twisted and turned out of sight.**

**"Welcome," said Hagrid, "to Diagon Alley."**

**He grinned at Harry's amazement. They stepped through the archway. Harry looked quickly over his shoulder and saw the archway shrink instantly back into solid wall.**

**The sun shone brightly on a stack of cauldrons outside the nearest shop. Cauldrons -- All Sizes - Copper, Brass, Pewter, Silver -- Self-Stirring -- Collapsible, said a sign hanging over them.**

**"Yeah, you'll be needin' one," said Hagrid, "but we gotta get yer money first."**

**Harry wished he had about eight more eyes. He turned his head in every direction as they walked up the street, trying to look at everything at once: the shops, the things outside them, the people doing their shopping. A plump woman outside an Apothecary was shaking her head as they passed, saying, "Dragon liver, seventeen Sickles an ounce, they're mad...."**

"That is kind of expensive," Remus said offhandedly, they all murmured their agreement.

**A low, soft hooting came from a dark shop with a sign saying Eeylops Owl Emporium -- Tawny, Screech, Barn, Brown, and Snowy. Several boys of about Harry's age had their noses pressed against a window with broomsticks in it.**

"What? New Broom? What is it, Harry stop and look!" James cried excitedly

**"Look," Harry heard one of them say, "the new Nimbus Two Thousand -- fastest ever --" **

"I want one," James and Sirius said at once.

"You can't have one, they haven't been made yet,"

"Aww but Moony," they whined together.

"No, and that's final," the two boys pouted.

"Well then I want Harry to have one,"

"Over my dead body Potter,"

"Too late," Sirius grinned, Lily just glared at him "as godfather it is my responsibility to get Harry the best broom out there, and I will,"

"I'll haunt you," Lily said threateningly.

"I'm touched that you would want to spend eternity in my presence, I really am, we just need to dump James first," as he wriggled his eyebrows.

"Necrophilia aside, Stop Flirting with my wife!"

"I'm not your wife yet Potter, still need that proof,"

"Just give me a time and a place Lily, a time and a place."

**There were shops selling robes, shops selling telescopes and strange silver instruments Harry had never seen before, windows stacked with barrels of bat spleens and eels' eyes, tottering piles of spell books, quills, and rolls of parchment, potion bottles, globes of the moon....**

**"Gringotts," said Hagrid.**

**They had reached a snowy white building that towered over the other little shops. Standing beside its burnished bronze doors, wearing a uniform of scarlet and gold, was –**

"A Gryffindor goblin," everyone turned and looked at Sirius like he was mad.

**"Yeah, that's a goblin," said Hagrid quietly as they walked up the white stone steps toward him. The goblin was about a head shorter than Harry. He had a swarthy, clever face, a pointed beard and, Harry noticed, very long fingers and feet. He bowed as they walked inside. Now they were facing a second pair of doors, silver this time, with words engraved upon them:**

**Enter, stranger, but take heed**

**Of what awaits the sin of greed,**

**For those who take, but do not earn,**

**Must pay most dearly in their turn.**

**So if you seek beneath our floors**

**A treasure that was never yours,**

**Thief, you have been warned, beware**

**Of finding more than treasure there.**

**"Like I said, Yeh'd be mad ter try an' rob it," said Hagrid.**

"Yes because a scary poem is doing to deter so many people," Peter rolled his eyes.

"It's not the poem they have to fear, it's what the poem is implying," Remus pointed out.

"Anyone else get the feeling that this fact is being stressed a little too much?" Sirius asked, the others just looked at him blankly "what?"

"First off I highly doubt Harry is going to try and rob Gringotts, and secondly when did you become so insightful?" Lily stared pointedly at him.

"I have many hidden talents, would you like to see some of them?"

"Back off Black," James growled.

**A pair of goblins bowed them through the silver doors and they were in a vast marble hall. About a hundred more goblins were sitting on high stools behind a long counter, scribbling in large ledgers, weighing coins in brass scales, examining precious stones through eyeglasses. There were too many doors to count leading off the hall, and yet more goblins were showing people in and out of these. Hagrid and Harry made for the counter.**

**"Morning," said Hagrid to a free goblin. "We've come ter take some money outta Mr. Harry Potter's safe."**

**"You have his key, Sir?"**

**"Got it here somewhere," said Hagrid, **

"Should I be afraid that Hagrid has the key to my family's vault?"

"Better him then my sister,"

"Good point,"

**and he started emptying his pockets onto the counter, scattering a handful of moldy dog biscuits over the goblin's book of numbers. The goblin wrinkled his nose. Harry watched the goblin on their right weighing a pile of rubies as big as glowing coals.**

**"Got it," said Hagrid at last, holding up a tiny golden key.**

"He had me worried that he'd lost it there for a minute," James let out a breath he didn't know he was holding.

"Well he is the keeper of keys for Hogwarts so I'm sure it was alright," Remus reasoned.

"That still doesn't make me feel any better, after all how many keyholes do you see in Hogwarts?"

"Good point,"

**The goblin looked at it closely.**

**"That seems to be in order."**

**"An' I've also got a letter here from Professor Dumbledore," said Hagrid importantly, throwing out his chest. "It's about the YouKnow-What in vault seven hundred and thirteen."**

"Very discreet Hagrid," Remus said dryly

"I wonder what it is?" Sirius asked.

"I'm sure we'll find out, Hagrid never was very good at keeping secrets," James responded.

**The goblin read the letter carefully.**

**"Very well," he said, handing it back to Hagrid, "I will have Someone take you down to both vaults. Griphook!"**

**Griphook was yet another goblin. Once Hagrid had crammed all the dog biscuits back inside his pockets, he and Harry followed Griphook toward one of the doors leading off the hall.**

**"What's the You-Know-What in vault seven hundred and thirteen?" Harry asked.**

**"Can't tell yeh that," said Hagrid mysteriously. "Very secret. Hogwarts business. Dumbledore's trusted me. More'n my job's worth ter tell yeh that."**

"Meaning that you'll know very soon, what it is, why he wants it, and where it's hidden," Peter said sagely.

**Griphook held the door open for them. Harry, who had expected more marble, was surprised. They were in a narrow stone passageway lit with flaming torches. It sloped steeply downward and there were little railway tracks on the floor. Griphook whistled and a small cart came hurtling up the tracks toward them. They climbed in -- Hagrid with some difficulty -- and were off.**

"I love riding in those carts, it's like an adventure ride," Sirius grinned.

"It's like a roller coaster,"

"What's a roller coaster?" Sirius asked eagerly.

"It's a muggle adventure ride, you sit in a cart and travel down this track at very high speeds, they can even take you upside down,"

"It's been decided, after we graduate, Lily you are taking all of us on a roller coaster!"

"Why me?"

"Because you are our resident muggle expert,"

"Well I'd hope so, after all my parents are muggles," she muttered sarcastically.

**At first they just hurtled through a maze of twisting passages. Harry tried to remember, left, right, right, left, middle fork, right, left, but it was impossible. The rattling cart seemed to know its own way, because Griphook wasn't steering.**

**Harry's eyes stung as the cold air rushed past them, but he kept them wide open. Once, he thought he saw a burst of fire at the end of a passage and twisted around to see if it was a dragon, but too late - - they plunged even deeper, passing an underground lake where huge stalactites and stalagmites grew from the ceiling and floor.**

"**I never know," Harry called to Hagrid over the noise of the cart, "what's the difference between a stalagmite and a stalactite?"**

**"Stalagmite's got an 'm' in it," said Hagrid. "An' don' ask me questions just now, I think I'm gonna be sick."**

"That could be bad," James blinked.

"Poor Hagrid, doesn't look like he'll be joining us on that roller coaster," Sirius nodded sadly.

"That's good because I don't think they've built one that could hold him yet,"

**He did look very green, and when the cart stopped at last beside a small door in the passage wall, Hagrid got out and had to lean against the wall to stop his knees from trembling.**

**Griphook unlocked the door. A lot of green smoke came billowing out, and as it cleared, Harry gasped. Inside were mounds of gold coins. Columns of silver. Heaps of little bronze Knuts.**

**"All yours," smiled Hagrid.**

"Welcome to the Potter vault, well one of them at least,"

"You have more than one?" Lily asked looking shocked.

"Well yeah, that's probably just Harry's Trust Fund vault, if it was the Potter family vault there'd be more than just money in there," James shrugged "not to mention it'd be in the high security location,"

**All Harry's -- it was incredible. The Dursleys couldn't have known about this or they'd have had it from him faster than blinking. **

"Told you, even Harry knows my sister and her greedy tendencies,"

"They could try, but they'd only be able to gain access to a small portion, Harry won't be able to access the family vault until he's seventeen, even I only just got access to the main vault,"

**How often had they complained how much Harry cost them to keep? And all the time there had been a small fortune belonging to him, buried deep under London.**

**Hagrid helped Harry pile some of it into a bag.**

**"The gold ones are Galleons," he explained. "Seventeen silver Sickles to a Galleon and twenty-nine Knuts to a Sickle, it's easy enough. Right, that should be enough fer a couple o' terms, we'll keep the rest safe for yeh." He turned to Griphook. "Vault seven hundred and thirteen now, please, and can we go more slowly?"**

"Not likely, I believe the carts only go one speed," Lily pointed out.

"They do, I asked if they could go slower but the goblins told me they can't," Peter grumbled.

**"One speed only," said Griphook.**

**They were going even deeper now and gathering speed. The air became colder and colder as they hurtled round tight corners. They went rattling over an underground ravine, and Harry leaned over the side to try to see what was down at the dark bottom, **

"Harry!" Lily shrieked looking frightened.

**but Hagrid groaned and pulled him back by the scruff of his neck.**

"Rule number one about riding the carts at Gringotts, never lean over the edge you may fall over," James sighed "Geesh son, are you trying to give me a heart attack?"

"He is your son after all," Lily bluntly pointed out.

"Wouldn't be a true Marauder if he didn't attempt to give his father a heart attack," Sirius smirked while James just stuck his tongue out at him.

**Vault seven hundred and thirteen had no keyhole.**

"Odd," Remus muttered looking intrigued.

**"Stand back," said Griphook importantly. He stroked the door gently with one of his long fingers and it simply melted away.**

"Wicked," James and Sirius said simultaneously. Remus and Peter just chuckled at their enthusiasm while Lily just shook her head.

"You'd think you were the muggleborns with the way you're acting," she teased.

**"If anyone but a Gringotts goblin tried that, they'd be sucked through the door and trapped in there," said Griphook.**

**"How often do you check to see if anyone's inside?" Harry asked.**

**"About once every ten years," said Griphook with a rather nasty grin.**

"Good to know," Sirius seemed to be making a mental note of this fact.

"Not thinking about breaking into Gringotts are you Padfoot?"

"I've have to be completely nutters to even think about it Prongs,"

"You're not far off then," Remus muttered.

"Oi!"

**Something really extraordinary had to be inside this top security vault, Harry was sure, and he leaned forward eagerly, expecting to see fabulous jewels at the very least -- but at first he thought it was empty. **

"Well that's a bit of a letdown,"

"How is that a letdown, what would Dumbledore need with fabulous jewels Padfoot?"

"Beats me Moony," Sirius shrugged

**Then he noticed a grubby little package wrapped up in brown paper lying on the floor. **

"I highly doubt that what's in that package will be a letdown because if I know Dumbledore that safe is holding something very important," James pointed out.

"Very good Potter, did you think of that all by yourself? Simply astonishing" Lily asked with an innocent face. James raised an eyebrow and grinned.

" I have my moments"

"I don't think she meant that as a compliment Prongs…"

**Hagrid picked it up and tucked it deep inside his coat. Harry longed to know what it was, but knew better than to ask.**

"Boo, that's not very marauder of you Harry," Sirius pouted.

"Well Harry's not you," Peter bluntly pointed out.

"Thank Merlin for that," Lily whispered.

"As much as I'm also thankful that Harry isn't Padfoot, he is being very Marauder so to speak,"

"What are you on about Prongs? Everyone knows that if you ask Hagrid something at the right time he'll tell you,"

"True as that may be Padfoot this is not the right time because Hagrid has not been drinking, so this is not the right time to gather information from Hagrid directly. However by waiting and seeming to be uninterested he can gather far more information on what the package is and possibly even find it himself,"

"James does have a point," Remus pointed "but we are forgetting one very important fact."

"What's that?" Peter asked curiously

"Harry just met Hagrid, he doesn't know his tendencies yet…" Remus reasoned.

"Bugger….That means we may have a bit of a wait to find out anything.."

"Yup"

**"Come on, back in this infernal cart, and don't talk to me on the way back, it's best if I keep me mouth shut," said Hagrid.**

**One wild cart ride later they stood blinking in the sunlight outside Gringotts. Harry didn't know where to run first now that he had a bag full of money. **

"Just because you have a bag full of money that doesn't mean you can spend it frivolously, that money in your vault has to last you for another 6 years at Hogwarts…"

"Uh Lily?" James seemed hesitant to speak "you know Harry can't hear you right?"

"Of course I know that," she snapped "but this may be the only chance I get to lecture my son on spending his money responsibly and I plan to take full advantage of it,"

"By all means then, lecture away," Sirius said in mock surrender, none of the boys wanted to try and stop Lily's 'lecture'.

**He didn't have to know how many Galleons there were to a pound to know that he was holding more money than he'd had in his whole life -- more money than even Dudley had ever had.**

**"Might as well get yer uniform," said Hagrid, nodding toward Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions. "Listen, Harry, would yeh mind if I slipped off fer a pick-me-up in the Leaky Cauldron? **

"Ha! Told you Hagrid would slip off at some point for a 'pick-me-up'! Pay up Evans!" Sirius thrust his hand out towards Lily looking quite proud of himself.

"Not so fast Black, while it is true about what you said about Hagrid slipping off for a drink while accompanying Harry you're forgetting the second part to our bet," Lily smirked.

"Second part?" Sirius stuttered looking completely flabbergasted.

"Yes," Lily's smirk turned into a full fledged grin "while you were happy to bet on the actual event occurring I add a specific time for the event to occur in our bet so I believe that I was the more accurate one thus I won the bet," At this the other boys who were desperately trying to keep their snickering under control finally gave up and erupted into loud fits of laughter.

"That may be so Evans," Sirius was looking around nervously trying to maintain what little dignity he had left "but technically we both won since Hagrid did in fact head off to have a drink, so the bet should be deemed as a draw,"

"Not quite Sirius, that would have been the case had we bet the same amount but if I remember correctly you bet 2 Galleons while I bet 3," Lily grinned even more and thrust her own hand out much like Sirius had done earlier "So pay up!"

"Nice try Padfoot," Remus smirked at him while he dug a Galleon out of his pocket and gave it to Lily.

"Looks like you've been had," Peter grinned

"Looks like you've finally met your match Padfoot," James smirked.

"Seems so, but just be warned, this isn't over yet Evans! I've got my eye on you," Sirius shot her a look while Lily just laughed.

**I hate them Gringotts carts." He did still look a bit sick, so Harry entered Madam Malkin's shop alone, feeling nervous.**

"You know, as much as I'm glad I made some money off of Hagrid leaving Harry alone and going off for a drink I really wish he hadn't done that,"

"Relax Lily Harry will be fine," James reassured her.

**Madam Malkin was a squat, smiling witch dressed all in mauve.**

**"Hogwarts, dear?" she said, when Harry started to speak. "Got the lot here -- another young man being fitted up just now, in fact."**

**In the back of the shop, a boy with a pale, pointed face was standing on a footstool while a second witch pinned up his long black robes. Madam Malkin stood Harry on a stool next to him, slipped a long robe over his head, and began to pin it to the right length.**

**"Hello," said the boy, "Hogwarts, too?"**

**"Yes," said Harry.**

**"My father's next door buying my books and mother's up the street looking at wands," said the boy. He had a bored, drawling voice. "Then I'm going to drag them off to look at racing brooms. I don't see why first years can't have their own. I think I'll bully father into getting me one and I'll smuggle it in somehow."**

"What a little brat, he sounds almost as bad as the pig!" Sirius grumbled.

"Pale pointed face…why does that sound familiar," Remus pondered aloud.

**Harry was strongly reminded of Dudley.**

**"Have you got your own broom?" the boy went on.**

**"No," said Harry.**

**"Play Quidditch at all?"**

"He will," James said solemnly while Lily just shot him a look.

**"No," Harry said again, wondering what on earth Quidditch could be.**

"Only the best sport in the whole world, just wait until you get to Hogwarts Harry, they'll be there to teach you everything there is to know about Quidditch!" Sirius breathed excitedly. The other boys nodded in agreement while Lily just glared at them all.

**"I do -- Father says it's a crime if I'm not picked to play for my house, and I must say, I agree. **

"Sounds like this kid does whatever Daddy tells him," Sirius snickered while the others joined in, even Lily.

**Know what house you'll be in yet?"**

"Gryffindor!"

**"No," said Harry, feeling more stupid by the minute.**

"Don't feel stupid Harry, you know as much about Hogwarts as any muggleborn does at this point, you'll figure it all out, trust me," Lily smiled.

"She right, they'll be tons of other kids at school who don't know about the houses or Quidditch, so hang in there son," James smiled.

"And the award for the feel good family moment of the year goes to…" Sirius was cut off by James throwing a pillow at him while Lily just glared.

**"Well, no one really knows until they get there, do they, but I know I'll be in Slytherin, all our family have been – **

"Slytherin," Peter gave a look of disgust.

"He must belong to one of the old Pureblood Wizarding families then,"

"One of the Dark old Pureblood Wizarding families Prongs, since he's boasting about his whole family being in Slytherin,"

"He's probably a Malfoy or a Nott or something," Remus muttered

"Yeah, just what this world needs, more people like my family," Sirius grumbled.

**imagine being in Hufflepuff, I think I'd leave, wouldn't you?" **

"There is nothing wrong with being in Hufflepuff," Lily scolded

**"Mmm," said Harry, wishing he could say something a bit more interesting.**

**"I say, look at that man!" said the boy suddenly, nodding toward the front window. Hagrid was standing there, grinning at Harry and pointing at two large ice creams to show he couldn't come in.**

"Now there you go Evans, Hagrid might of left Harry to go for a drink but he came back with ice cream, doesn't that make you feel better?" Sirius teased.

"It does," Lily smiled softly "I'm glad someone is taking proper care of my son,"

**"That's Hagrid," said Harry, pleased to know something the boy didn't. "He works at Hogwarts."**

"Ha!" Sirius smirked triumphantly.

"What are you so happy about Padfoot?" Remus gave him a funny look.

"Harry was finally able to one up the boy," Sirius grinned proudly

"Oh yeah what I great one it was Padfoot," Peter muttered sarcastically.

"Shut up Pete," Sirius stuck his tongue out at him.

**"Oh," said the boy, "I've heard of him. He's a sort of servant, isn't he?"**

"Gamekeeper," they all said.

"You make him sound like a house elf," Sirius grumbled.

**"He's the gamekeeper," said Harry. He was liking the boy less and less every second.**

"Good call Harry, he sounds like a right git to me,"

"James," Lily scolded "watch your language,"

"I don't think you got that exactly right Prongs, git just isn't the right word for him, he's more of a prat,"

"Sirius!"

"No you've both got it wrong, he's more of an arse," Remus smirked.

"Remus! I expected better from you,"

"Well now that I think about it…" Peter started.

"Enough!" yelled Lily.

**"Yes, exactly. I heard he's a sort of savage -- lives in a hut on the school grounds and every now and then he gets drunk, tries to do magic, and ends up setting fire to his bed."**

"That's not exactly true," Remus said carefully.

"But not that far from the truth either…" Sirius finished sadly, the others just nodded solemnly.

**"I think he's brilliant," said Harry coldly.**

"I'm not sure if brilliant is the right word for Hagrid," James winced slightly.

**"Do you?" said the boy, with a slight sneer. "Why is he with you? Where are your parents?"**

**"They're dead," said Harry shortly. He didn't feel much like going into the matter with this boy.**

"He's not worth it anyways Harry," Sirius muttered.

**"Oh, sorry," said the other, not sounding sorry at all. "But they were our kind, weren't they?"**

"What does that matter?" James answered hotly "it doesn't matter who their parents are or were."

"Here here!" cheered Sirius and Remus while Lily laughed slightly. Remus was the only one to notice that Peter did not once speak up or look at any of the other marauders.

**"They were a witch and wizard, if that's what you mean."**

**"I really don't think they should let the other sort in, do you? They're just not the same, they've never been brought up to know our ways. Some of them have never even heard of Hogwarts until they get the letter, imagine. I think they should keep it in the old wizarding families. **

"Bigoted prat," growled James

"Definitely belongs to one of the dark Wizarding families,"

"You're spot on as usual Moony," Sirius joked before turning solemn "the sad thing is he's everything my family wanted me to be," no one spoke for a few minutes as everyone was lost in their own thoughts.

**What's your surname, anyway?"**

"What's it to you?" James snarled.

"Trust me kid, in about two seconds you are going to feel like an idiot. I mean you're only talking to what appears to be the most well known wizard in all of Britain," Sirius stated casually.

"Wouldn't this kid see Harry as an appealing person, I mean wouldn't he see Harry as a way to gain power through the pretense of a friendship, not to mention he could be a horrible influence on Harry himself," Lily started to ramble.

"I don't think you'll have to worry about that Lily," Remus chuckled slightly.

"Harry's a smart kid Lily, he'd have to be given who his mother is," James was looking right at Lily when he said this causing her to blush slightly "if the Dursleys weren't able to corrupt him in anyway then I doubt this pale-faced brat could,"

"I guess you're right," Lily reasoned.

"Besides for all you know Harry could be the one influencing this kid," Peter commented which made everyone turn to give him a funny look "well he could,"

"Sure Pete, whatever you say," Sirius rolled his eyes.

**But before Harry could answer, Madam Malkin said, "That's you done, my dear," and Harry, not sorry for an excuse to stop talking to the boy, hopped down from the footstool.**

"Drats, I wanted to see the kid's reaction to Harry's name," Sirius pouted.

**"Well, I'll see you at Hogwarts, I suppose," said the drawling boy.**

**Harry was rather quiet as he ate the ice cream Hagrid had bought him (chocolate and raspberry with chopped nuts).**

"Mmm," everyone commented when there was a sudden grumble from Sirius' stomach.

"What?" he asked everyone turned to look at him "It's nearly lunch time and I'm hungry, didn't know it was a crime," the others just laughed.

"It's settled then, after this chapter we'll break for lunch," Lily smiled.

**"What's up?" said Hagrid.**

**"Nothing," Harry lied. **

"Don't let that boy get you down son, you will find that there are many different people who do not share his view on how things should be run,"

"Prongs is right there Harry, but unfortunately there will be a few at Hogwarts who do share his opinion on things, just try to avoid those gits," Sirius winked.

"Or do like we do and prank them to hell" Remus said offhandedly.

"Remus…." Lily said warningly.

**They stopped to buy parchment and quills. Harry cheered up a bit when he found a bottle of ink that changed color as you wrote. When they had left the shop, he said, "Hagrid, what's Quidditch?"**

"Finally Harry's going to learn something useful," Sirius said eagerly.

"You should of told him first thing what Quidditch is," James argued.

"Before or after he told Harry he was a wizard and about Hogwarts," Lily glared.

"Err…ok maybe after he was told about being a Wizard and Hogwarts," James mumbled looking down, the other boys just laughed at him.

**"Blimey, Harry, I keep forgettin' how little yeh know -- not knowin' about Quidditch!"**

**"Don't make me feel worse," said Harry. He told Hagrid about the pale **

**boy in Madam Malkin's.**

**"--and he said people from Muggle families shouldn't even be allowed in."**

"That was a very wise choice you made talking to Hagrid about what that boy said in Madam Malkin's Harry," Lily smiled.

"Yeah, yeah it was brilliant," Sirius waved off "now get to the important Quidditch talk!"

"Not everything revolves around Quidditch Black!"

"Well Evans, it should, the world would be a lot more exciting"

"More exciting than an ongoing war between good and evil in a magical community?" Remus said with a raised brow.

"Well when you put it that way…"

**"Yer not from a Muggle family. If he'd known who yeh were -- he's grown up knowin' yer name if his parents are wizardin' folk. You saw what everyone in the Leaky Cauldron was like when they saw yeh. Anyway, what does he know about it, some o' the best I ever saw were the only ones with magic in 'em in a long line 0' Muggles -- look at yer mum! Look what she had fer a sister!"**

"Let's not talk about my family right now,"

"I agree, no offense Lily but I'd rather not think about your sister or her family at this moment in time,"

"Agreed," the other boys murmured.

**"So what is Quidditch?"**

"It's…"

"Shut up Black!"

**"It's our sport. Wizard sport. It's like -- like soccer in the Muggle world -- everyone follows Quidditch -- played up in the air on broomsticks and there's four balls -- sorta hard ter explain the rules."**

"No it's not, it's easy," Sirius started.

"It is a game played on broomsticks though," Peter said

"There are four balls, the Quaffle, two Bludgers and the Golden Snitch," Remus continued.

"As well there are seven players playing five positions on the team, a Seeker, a Keeper, two Beaters and three Chasers," James added.

"Enough!" Lily yelled before Sirius could add anymore to the conversation "First off we all know the rules of Quidditch,"

"But Harry…"

"I know Harry doesn't know the rules James but he will, I know this because he's already asking questions about the sport,"

"And he is Prongs' son,"

"And that too Sirius, that being said I can almost guarantee you that at some point in this book the rules to Quidditch will be explained to Harry and thus to us as well so can you please stop explaining it?" Lily asked sounding exasperated.

"I guess," the boys all shrugged in agreement.

**"And what are Slytherin and Hufflepuff?"**

**"School houses. There's four. Everyone says Hufflepuff are a lot o'duffers, but --"**

"Hufflepuff's do have their good points, they are extremely loyal," Remus pointed out.

**"I bet I'm in Hufflepuff" said Harry gloomily.**

"I wouldn't bet on it Harry," Sirius winked.

"And that's saying something if Sirius won't bet on it," Peter laughed.

"Sounds like something you'd bet on thought Pete," Sirius joked while Peter just scowled.

**"Better Hufflepuff than Slytherin," said Hagrid darkly. **

"Agreed,"

**"There's not a single witch or wizard who went bad who wasn't in Slytherin. You-Know-Who was one."**

**"Vol-, sorry - You-Know-Who was at Hogwarts?"**

"Unfortunately," grumbled Sirius.

"Was he really?" asked Lily looking clearly shocked.

"Yeah, this was years ago though, before any of us were even born,"

**"Years an' years ago," said Hagrid.**

**They bought Harry's school books in a shop called Flourish and Blotts where the shelves were stacked to the ceiling with books as large as paving stones bound in leather; books the size of postage stamps in covers of silk; books full of peculiar symbols and a few books with nothing in them at all. Even Dudley, who never read anything, would have been wild to get his hands on some of these. Hagrid almost had to drag Harry away from Curses and Countercurses (Bewitch Your Friends and Befuddle Your Enemies with the Latest Revenges: Hair Loss, Jelly-Legs, Tongue- Tying and Much, Much More) by Professor Vindictus Viridian.**

"I must remember to get that book," Sirius said excitedly while the others just looked at him blankly.

"Did you just say that you wanted to get a book?" Lily stared blankly.

"Are you sure you haven't been sniffing the potion fumes again Padfoot?"

"Of course I haven't Moony," Sirius huffed

"Then why do you want this book?" Peter asked.

"Think about all the pranks we could pull on the Slytherin's if we had a book like that,"

"I wonder if they have a copy in the library," James wondered aloud with an evil type grin on his face.

"Snivellous wouldn't know what hit him," The boys all shared an evil grin while Lily just rolled her eyes in amusement.

**"I was trying to find out how to curse Dudley."**

"That's something else we could do with that book," Remus smirked.

**"I'm not sayin' that's not a good idea, but yer not ter use magic in the Muggle world except in very special circumstances," said Hagrid. "An' anyway, yeh couldn' work any of them curses yet, yeh'll need a lot more study before yeh get ter that level."**

"Got to love how Hagrid basically told Harry to 'go for it'," Sirius smirked. There was silence for a moment before James spoke up.

"You still in there Lily?" James tapped her on the shoulder.

"Of course I am, why would you ask something like that?"

"I think that James and Sirius were waiting for some sort of scolding for what they were thinking and what Hagrid had said to Harry," Remus pointed out.

"Well sorry to disappoint boys but I completely agree with Hagrid on this one, just as long as Harry doesn't get himself into trouble with the Ministry for doing underage magic,"

**Hagrid wouldn't let Harry buy a solid gold cauldron, either ("It says pewter on yer list"), **

"Your cauldron does not need to be solid gold Harry," Lily scolded lightly.

"There's the Lily Evans we've come to know and love," James smirked while the other boys nodded in agreement.

**but they got a nice set of scales for weighing potion ingredients and a collapsible brass telescope. Then they visited the Apothecary, which was fascinating enough to make up for its horrible smell, a mixture of bad eggs and rotted cabbages. Barrels of slimy stuff stood on the floor; jars of herbs, dried roots, and bright powders lined the walls; bundles of feathers, strings of fangs, and snarled claws hung from the ceiling. While Hagrid asked the man behind the counter for a supply of some basic potion ingredients for Harry, Harry himself examined silver unicorn horns at twenty-one Galleons each and minuscule, glittery-black beetle eyes (five Knuts a scoop).**

**Outside the Apothecary, Hagrid checked Harry's list again.**

**"Just yer wand left - A yeah, an' I still haven't got yeh a birthday present."**

James and Lily smiled sadly.

**Harry felt himself go red.**

**"You don't have to --"**

"You're right Harry he doesn't but he is going to anyways so just accept it," James smiled

"And remember to say 'Thank You'," Lily added

**"I know I don't have to. Tell yeh what, I'll get yer animal. Not a toad, toads went outta fashion years ago, yeh'd be laughed at - an' I don' like cats, they make me sneeze. I'll get yer an owl. All the kids want owls, they're dead useful, carry yer mail an' everythin'."**

"Oh Hagrid," Lily had tears in her eyes "Thank you,"

"We should probably try to get Hagrid something extra special for Christmas this year as an early 'thanks'," James looked over at Lily as he spoke and saw her nod at the end.

"I just don't know what,"

"We'll all help you guys, it's the least we can do," Sirius added while both Peter and Remus nodded in agreement.

**Twenty minutes later, they left Eeylops Owl Emporium, which had been dark and full of rustling and flickering, jewel-bright eyes. Harry now carried a large cage that held a beautiful snowy owl, fast asleep with her head under her wing. He couldn't stop stammering his thanks, sounding just like Professor Quirrell.**

They all laughed.

"I've always loved the snowy owls," Lily said softly.

**"Don' mention it," said Hagrid gruffly. "Don' expect you've had a lotta presents from them Dursleys. Just Ollivanders left now - only place fer wands, Ollivanders, and yeh gotta have the best wand."**

**A magic wand... this was what Harry had been really looking forward to.**

"It does tend to make things seem real, wouldn't you lot think so too?" Remus asked the others who all nodded their agreement.

"I was really glad to learn that they used wands in the Wizarding World, when I first learned about this world I was afraid that the use of wands was a muggle misconception and only used in fantasy novels,"

"Sorry to disappoint Evans but we're forced to carry around these little sticks just so that we can perform magic,"

"Speak for yourself Padfoot," James scoffed "I know for a fact that my stick is not little," everyone laughed while Sirius just shook his head at his best mate in amusement.

**The last shop was narrow and shabby. Peeling gold letters over the door read Ollivanders: Makers of Fine Wands since 382 B.C. A single wand lay on a faded purple cushion in the dusty window.**

"Still got the same wand in the window I see," Remus smiled.

"How long has that wand been there?" Peter asked.

"Probably since 382 B.C." James joked.

"I wouldn't say that long, but probably since he opened up shop in Diagon Alley," Lily reasoned.

"I tried to ask him about it but he wouldn't give me a straight answer, just said that it was a very special wand,"

"Why would he keep a 'very special wand' in the front window of his shop in Diagon Alley?" James asked staring blankly at Sirius.

"Advertisement?" Lily asked.

"Beats me," Sirius shrugged "Mr. Ollivander has always been a little…"

"Odd?" Remus supplied.

"I'd say nutters but I guess odd could work," Sirius shrugged once again.

"He is a little strange, the way he remembers every wand that he's sold,"

"I think his memory is brilliant," James grinned "could of used a memory like that during the OWLs,"

"Not to mention the NEWTs," Lily reminded them, the boys just groaned.

"I'd rather not think about them right now," Sirius grumbled.

"Well they are coming up,"

"But not for another year almost!" Sirius spoke up.

"11 months," Remus said quietly.

"Still practically a year! You don't expect us to start studying for them or something right now?"

"Of course not Sirius, even I'm not studying for my NEWTs yet,"

"You aren't?" James blinked.

"Why would I? Look we may be at Hogwarts but it is still summer, so aside from my summer homework I'm not picking up my school books until September,"

"I forgot about my summer homework," Sirius grumbled.

"You better get a move on then, but not right now, first we read about Harry then you lot finish your summer homework, if you haven't already," Lily looked over at Remus to find him smiling brightly at her indicating that he had in fact already finished his summer homework. The other boys just groaned at the thought.

"At least she said we can finish reading about Harry first," James reasoned happily.

"That's great for you, but as I recall it you were almost finished all your work, where I've only got one essay done," Sirius grumbled.

"You're farther ahead than me, I haven't even started yet," Peter whinned.

"That's your fault Pete, you should have been working on it with the rest of us instead of playing Exploding Snap," James laughed while Peter tried to bury his head into his pillow.

**A tinkling bell rang somewhere in the depths of the shop as they stepped inside. It was a tiny place, empty except for a single, spindly chair that Hagrid sat on to wait. Harry felt strangely as though he had entered a very strict library; he swallowed a lot of new questions that had just occurred to him and looked instead at the thousands of narrow boxes piled neatly right up to the ceiling. For some reason, the back of his neck prickled. The very dust and silence in here seemed to tingle with some secret magic.**

"That would be all the wands reacting to your magic," Lily smiled knowingly.

"How do you know that?" Sirius asked incredulously.

"I asked Mr. Ollivander about it,"

**"Good afternoon," said a soft voice. Harry jumped. Hagrid must have jumped, too, because there was a loud crunching noise and he got quickly off the spindly chair.**

They all laughed.

**An old man was standing before them, his wide, pale eyes shining like moons through the gloom of the shop.**

**"Hello," said Harry awkwardly.**

**"Ah yes," said the man. "Yes, yes. I thought I'd be seeing you soon. Harry Potter." **

"Creepy," Sirius said in a sign song voice.

**It wasn't a question. "You have your mother's eyes. It seems only yesterday she was in here herself, buying her first wand. Ten and a quarter inches long, swishy, made of willow. Nice wand for charm work."**

Lily smiled and pulled out her wand to examine it.

**Mr. Ollivander moved closer to Harry. Harry wished he would blink. Those silvery eyes were a bit creepy.**

**"Your father, on the other hand, favored a mahogany wand. Eleven inches. Pliable. A little more power and excellent for transfiguration. Well, I say your father favored it -- it's really the wand that chooses the wizard, of course."**

James also pulled out his wand to examine it but ended up twirling it in his fingers.

**Mr. Ollivander had come so close that he and Harry were almost nose to nose. Harry could see himself reflected in those misty eyes.**

**"And that's where..."**

**Mr. Ollivander touched the lightning scar on Harry's forehead with a long, white finger.**

"Told you he was more nutters than odd," mumbled Sirius.

**"I'm sorry to say I sold the wand that did it," he said softly.**

**"Thirteen-and-a-half inches. Yew. Powerful wand, very powerful, and in the wrong hands... well, if I'd known what that wand was going out into the world to do...."**

"If he knew what half the people in the Wizarding World were going to do with their wands he'd be horribly disturbed," Remus pointed out.

"Among many other things," James grumbled.

**He shook his head and then, to Harry's relief, spotted Hagrid.**

**"Rubeus! Rubeus Hagrid! How nice to see you again.... Oak, sixteen inches, rather bendy, wasn't it?"**

**"It was, sir, yes," said Hagrid.**

**"Good wand, that one. But I suppose they snapped it in half when you got expelled?" said Mr. Ollivander, suddenly stern.**

**"Er -- yes, they did, yes," said Hagrid, shuffling his feet. "I've still got the pieces, though," he added brightly.**

**"But you don't use them?" said Mr. Ollivander sharply.**

"No not at all," Sirius muttered sarcastically, the others just laughed.

**"Oh, no, sir," said Hagrid quickly. Harry noticed he gripped his pink umbrella very tightly as he spoke.**

"Liar!" Sirius called in a voice that sounded great like Professor McGonagall.

"What have I told you about doing voices?" James asked as he smacked across the back of the head.

"That was creepy," Lily said looking a little freaked out.

"Did you have to hit me so hard Prongs, that really hurt!" Sirius complained while rubbing the back of his head.

"Oh stop complaining Padfoot, I didn't hit you that hard,"

"Did too,"

"Did not!"

"Did…"

"Enough!" Remus yelled catching their attention. Peter and Lily just laughed.

**"Hmmm," said Mr. Ollivander, giving Hagrid a piercing look. "Well, now -- Mr. Potter. Let me see." He pulled a long tape measure with silver markings out of his pocket. "Which is your wand arm?"**

**"Er -- well, I'm right-handed," said Harry.**

**"Hold out your arm. That's it." He measured Harry from shoulder to finger, then wrist to elbow, shoulder to floor, knee to armpit and round his head. **

"Am I the only one that thought the measurements he took were weird?" Lily asked.

"No, we all thought they were weird," Sirius nodded.

"I have no idea what the measurement of knee to armpit has to do with which wand will work best for you, but apparently Mr. Ollivander seems to think it's relevant," Remus shrugged.

"And it is supposed to be the expert," Peter pointed out.

"Apparently," Remus nodded.

**As he measured, he said, "Every Ollivander wand has a core of a powerful magical substance, Mr. Potter. We use unicorn hairs, phoenix tail feathers, and the heartstrings of dragons. No two Ollivander wands are the same, just as no two unicorns, dragons, or phoenixes are quite the same. And of course, you will never get such good results with another wizard's wand."**

"But you can get close depending on the wand and the person who owns it," Remus pointed out.

**Harry suddenly realized that the tape measure, which was measuring between his nostrils, was doing this on its own. Mr. Ollivander was flitting around the shelves, taking down boxes.**

"You got to love magic," Sirius grinned broadly, the others nodded in agreement.

**"That will do," he said, and the tape measure crumpled into a heap on the floor. "Right then, Mr. Potter. Try this one. Beechwood and dragon heartstring. Nine inches. Nice and flexible. just take it and give it a wave."**

**Harry took the wand and (feeling foolish) waved it around a bit, but Mr. Ollivander snatched it out of his hand almost at once.**

**"Maple and phoenix feather. Seven inches. Quite whippy. Try --"**

**Harry tried -- but he had hardly raised the wand when it, too, was snatched back by Mr. Ollivander.**

**"No, no -here, ebony and unicorn hair, eight and a half inches, springy. Go on, go on, try it out."**

**Harry tried. And tried. He had no idea what Mr. Ollivander was waiting for. The pile of tried wands was mounting higher and higher on the spindly chair, but the more wands Mr. Ollivander pulled from the shelves, the happier he seemed to become.**

"Nutters," Sirius sang.

"I don't think it took me this long to find a wand," James pointed out.

"Me neither," Sirius shrugged while Lily and Remus shook their heads.

"It did with me, left like I tried every wand in the store before I found one," Peter mumbled.

"Did you notice the same thing? That Ollivander seemed to get happier the more wands you tried?" Sirius asked.

"I don't really remember, but maybe," Peter shrugged.

**"Tricky customer, eh? Not to worry, we'll find the perfect match here somewhere -- I wonder, now - - yes, why not -- unusual combination -- holly and phoenix feather, eleven inches, nice and supple."**

**Harry took the wand. He felt a sudden warmth in his fingers. **

"Found it," everyone said.

**He raised the wand above his head, brought it swishing down through the dusty air and a stream of red and gold sparks shot from the end like a firework, throwing dancing spots of light on to the walls. Hagrid whooped and clapped and Mr. Ollivander cried, "Oh, bravo! Yes, indeed, oh, very good. Well, well, well... how curious... how very curious... "**

"Curious?" James and Lily asked.

"Nutters," Sirius mumbled again.

**He put Harry's wand back into its box and wrapped it in brown paper, still muttering, "Curious... curious..**

**"Sorry," said Harry, "but what's curious?"**

**Mr. Ollivander fixed Harry with his pale stare.**

Everyone shuddered like a chill went through the room.

**"I remember every wand I've ever sold, Mr. Potter. Every single wand. It so happens that the phoenix whose tail feather is in your wand, gave another feather -- just one other. It is very curious indeed that you should be destined for this wand when its brother why, its brother gave you that scar."**

"Bloody hell!" yelled James and Sirius.

"What does this mean?" Lily asked quietly looking around but everyone just shrugged.

**Harry swallowed.**

**"Yes, thirteen-and-a-half inches. Yew. Curious indeed how these things happen. The wand chooses the wizard, remember.... I think we must expect great things from you, Mr. Potter.... After all, He- Who-Must-Not-Be-Named did great things -- terrible, yes, but great."**

"I think I'm starting to agree with you on the nutters bit Sirius," Lily said.

"Agreed, I wouldn't exactly call Voldie's antics 'great' either," Remus muttered.

**Harry shivered. He wasn't sure he liked Mr. Ollivander too much. He paid seven gold Galleons for his wand, and Mr. Ollivander bowed them from his shop.**

**The late afternoon sun hung low in the sky as Harry and Hagrid made their way back down Diagon Alley, back through the wall, back through the Leaky Cauldron, now empty. Harry didn't speak at all as they walked down the road; he didn't even notice how much people were gawking at them on the Underground, laden as they were with all their funny-shaped packages, with the snowy owl asleep in its cage on Harry's lap. Up another escalator, out into Paddington station; Harry only realized**

**where they were when Hagrid tapped him on the shoulder.**

**"Got time fer a bite to eat before yer train leaves," he said.**

**He bought Harry a hamburger and they sat down on plastic seats to eat them. Harry kept looking around. Everything looked so strange, somehow.**

"I remember feeling like that after I found out I was a witch…The world seemed so different afterwards." Lily reflected

"I can imagine, it must be doubly strange for Harry, especially with his wand and all.." Remus acknowledged.

"I think we can all agree this will not be the normal case of a wizard going to school…" The other nodded in agreement.

**"You all right, Harry? Yer very quiet," said Hagrid.**

**Harry wasn't sure he could explain. He'd just had the best birthday of his life**

Lily and james scowled.

**-- and yet -- he chewed his hamburger, trying to find the words.**

**"Everyone thinks I'm special," he said at last. "All those people in the Leaky Cauldron, Professor Quirrell, Mr. Ollivander... but I don't know anything about magic at all. How can they expect great things? I'm famous and I can't even remember what I'm famous for. I don't know what happened when Vol-, sorry -- I mean, the night my parents died."**

"It'll be alright Harry," Lily whispered.

"You'll figure it out Harry, I mean your mother was much the same way and yet here she is today, top of our class," James smiled proudly while Lily blushed slightly.

**Hagrid leaned across the table. Behind the wild beard and eyebrows he wore a very kind smile.**

**"Don' you worry, Harry. You'll learn fast enough. Everyone starts at the beginning at Hogwarts, you'll be just fine. just be yerself. I know it's hard. Yeh've been singled out, an' that's always hard. But yeh'll have a great time at Hogwarts -- I did -- still do, 'smatter of fact."**

**Hagrid helped Harry on to the train that would take him back to the Dursleys, then handed him an envelope.**

"Does he really have to go back there," James snarled.

"You'd think they'd let him come back to Hogwarts until term starts," Sirius grumbled.

"You'd think," Remus agreed.

"But then he's miss the train ride," Peter pointed out.

"So what? Better that than having to spent more time with those gits," James argued.

"He wouldn't have to miss the train, they'd just have to apparate him back to the sation or something, it wouldn't be hard," Lily pointed out.

"But apparently that would make too much sense," Sirius scowled.

**"Yer ticket fer Hogwarts, " he said. "First o' September -- King's Cross -- it's all on yer ticket. Any problems with the Dursleys, send me a letter with yer owl, she'll know where to find me.... See yeh soon, Harry."**

**The train pulled out of the station. Harry wanted to watch Hagrid until he was out of sight; he rose in his seat and pressed his nose against the window, but he blinked and Hagrid had gone.**

"That was a great chapter!" Sirius grinned "despite the ending," the others nodded in agreement.

"So, food?" Remus asked looking around.

"Merlin yes," James sighed as he got up "I'm starving!" The others got up as well to leave the room.

"As long as we don't take too long, I want to see what happens next," Lily said as she headed towards the door.

"So quick lunch and then more reading," Remus finalized as everyone made their way down the dormitory steps to head to the Great Hall for lunch.


End file.
